Noninvasive evaluation of peripheral arterial disease.

Doppler ultrasound is the most simple, inexpensive, accurate and versatile of the available noninvasive screening techniques to assess peripheral vascular diseases. The four fundamental components of peripheral arterial evaluation with this technique are assessment of blood velocity signal, measurement of resting ankle pressure, determination of segmental leg blood pressures, and measurement of ankle pressure response to exercise or reactive hyperemia. Plethysmography permits graphic recording of pulse-wave morphology, determination of digit blood pressure, and pulsatile responses to compression maneuvers. These techniques are useful in objectively quantifying peripheral arterial occlusive disease, predicting the results of operative therapy, monitoring the success of arterial reconstruction during surgery, and following the physiologic status of the patient after surgery.