Blood flow in the common femoral artery. Evaluation in a vascular laboratory.

Accurate knowledge of the hemodynamics of the common femoral artery is a critical part of both the preoperative evaluation of patients with peripheral vascular disease and the postoperative follow-up examination. Interrogation of the iliofemoral system with determinations of palpable pulse status, Doppler analog waveforms, and upper thigh pressure ratios has yielded an overall sensitivity of 91 percent and a specificity of 85 percent in the detection of inflow stenosis. This degree of accuracy (89 percent) allows practical surgical decisions to be based on the results of these noninvasive studies.