[Role of noninvasive vascular function tests before arterial vascular surgery]

Noninvasive functional tests of the arterial circulation are tests mainly based on measurements of systolic blood pressures and pulsatility of the blood flow in the extremities. In nearly all these tests Doppler ultrasound analyses of the arterial blood-stream are used. Objective and numeral data regarding the arterial function are needed both for the indications in arterial vascular surgery and for the analysis of the results of operative and non-operative vascular treatments. Before operations for chronic arterial obstructive disease of the lower extremities and in the case of pathology of the carotid arteries non-invasive functional vascular testing is indispensable. On the other hand, in patients with aneurysmatic disease, vascular trauma or arterial entrapment syndromes haemodynamic tests are almost redundant. The haemodynamic examinations for renal and visceral arterial abnormalities still need further development and validation before their clinical usefulness can be defined.