Contrast media hyperemia and Doppler measurements in peripheral arterial disease

The addition of Doppler measurements of ankle/brachial artery pressure ratios just before and after the hyperemia of routine angiography is a simple, quick, and efficient method in the determination of the hemodynamic significance of arterial narrowings. In a series of 21 patients (35 limbs) this test was found to be particularly helpful for those patients who could not undergo stress exercise testing, who had borderline significant physiologic test results, and who had angiographically indeterminate severe vessel narrowings.