Noninvasive assessment of microvessels with the duplex scanner

This study was undertaken to determine if a duplex scanner equipped with a new 10 MHz probe could accurately evaluate microvascular anastomotic patency. The overall predictive accuracy of the duplex scanner was 90% (p less than 0.0001) with no difference noted among the three main anastomotic groups examined--acute artery, acute vein, and long-term artery. There was, however, a statistically significant difference (p less than 0.05) in the ability to interpret vessels that were patent (100%) versus those that were partially occluded (73%) or occluded (88%). It is believed that the duplex scanner has potential applications to preoperatively and intraoperatively study microvessels and postoperatively to supplement other techniques in monitoring acute and long-term anastomotic patency.