Regional differences in the skin blood flow at various sites of the body studied by xenon 133.

Normal skin blood flow was measured by the xenon 133 clearance method at different anatomic sites of the body and the following results were obtained. First, the skin blood flow of the face and anterior chest was significantly greater than that of the deltoid region (P less than 0.01). The skin blood flow of the dorsal side of the hand and foot was significantly lower than that of the deltoid region (P less than 0.01). A tendency was observed for the skin blood flow to decrease gradually from the upper part of the body to the lower part of the body. For example, the ratio of the highest value at the face to the lowest value at the dorsal side of the foot was about 2.5:1, indicating a remarkable difference among the various sites of the body. The skin blood flow at the dorsum of the hand was significantly higher by about 25.4 percent than that of the foot (P less than 0.01). Second, the skin blood flow at the left side of the deltoid region was higher by about 5 percent than that of the right side (P less than 0.01). Bilateral comparison of the skin blood flow at the dorsal side of the hand and foot showed that the values were almost the same on the left and right.