[Peripheral oxygenation and perfusion in patients with chronic ischemic heart disease complicated by left-ventricular failure].

Examination of 33 normal subjects and 91 patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) ascertained that during CHD (diffuse atherosclerotic and postinfarction cardiosclerosis) without clinically marked heart insufficiency, oxygen tension in the arterialized capillary blood and subcutaneous fat of the forearm was normal in the overwhelming majority of cases. Only some of the patients manifested negligible arterial hypoxemia and/or tissue hypoxia. Left ventricular failure was always accompanied by arterial hypoxemia and tissue hypoxia the degree of which was proportional to the gravity of heart insufficiency. In isolated left ventricular failure without congestion in the greater circulation, CHD patients demonstrated abnormal peripheral circulation and tissue perfusion. In particular, the distensibility of the forearm veins was decreased by 43-50%, their capacity was reduced by 28-43%, and the volumetric velocity of the peripheral blood flow in this area was lessened by 34-58%.