Peripheral arterial disease: noninvasive testing.

During the past decade, noninvasive vascular diagnostic instrumentation has expanded beyond expectation. The scope of the vascular laboratory has exceeded the initial requirements of the surgeon for diagnosis, while large scale screening for early or silent vascular disease has become a reality.27 Vascular surgeon and researcher alike are using these tools accurately and painlessly to follow and asses arterial reconstruction and natural collateralization following segmental occlusion. The atherosclerotic disease process can be numerically evaluated and anatomically pinpoint with proper, judicious use of these instruments.