Influence of tissue compressibility on calibration for strain-gauge plethysmography

Strain gauges employed in plethysmography for determination of limb blood flow tend to counter the expansion of the limb during venous occlusion. Traditionally a mechanical calibration is performed in situ to compensate for tissue compressibility. Greenfield, Whitney, and Mowbray stated that, otherwise, large errors would result (Br. Med. Bull. 19: 101-109, 1963). Nonetheless, not all of the recent reports on skin blood flow in humans have been based on a calibration procedure that corrects for tissue compressibility. To evaluate the significance of this problem, we developed a new strain-gauge holder that made possible frequent, reproducible, stretching of a single-strand Whitney gauge in situ. We compared the apparent sensitivity thus obtained to electrical or bench mechanical determinations. We independently determined tissue compressibility by recording limb circumference as tension in a circumferential tube was varied. Both techniques showed that tissue compressibility is a small source of error (5%) and that compressibility decreases during occlusion. Therefore the cumbersome holder and potential artifacts associated with the traditional technique need not be tolerated. We also investigated the consequences of nonuniform tension distribution and temperature changes; practical considerations for dealing with these are discussed.