Hyperaemia of the calf after arterial reconstruction for lower limb atherosclerosis. A study with mercury strain gauge plethysmography.

Postoperative hyperaemia in the calf was studied in 25 patients successfully operated for obstructing atherosclerosis of the lower limbs. The calf flow was measured by strain gauge plethysmography. No difference in the preoperative calf flow between the patients and the control group was found. The flow at rest in the operated limb increased to a maximum on the 5th postoperative day, at which time it was 2.4 times the flow in the control leg. A significant correlation was found between the postoperative hyperaemia and the preoperative ankle pressure. These findings support the theory of Husni & Manion (1966), that there is a greater postoperative hyperaemia in patients with severe atherosclerosis. No significant correlation was found between the postoperative hyperaemia on the one hand and (1) the preoperative arterial flow increase after reconstruction, (2) the maximum flow increase in the artery after intra-arterial injection of papaverin or (3) clinical symptoms and angiographic findings on the other.