The effect of exercise upon cutaneous oxygen delivery in the extremities of patients with claudication and in a human laboratory model of claudication.

Transcutaneous PO2 measurements have been shown previously to reflect local cutaneous oxygen delivery in patients with severe peripheral arterial insufficiency. In the present studies, transcutaneous PO2 measurements indicated that exercise of the involved extremity lowered cutaneous oxygen delivery in patients with moderate peripheral arterial insufficiency (claudication). These exercise-related changes in transcutaneous PO2 were reproduced in a human laboratory model of claudication. The pattern of change in transcutaneous PO2 observed in this model during and after exercise correlated closely with the pattern of change in mean systemic blood pressure during the same time period.