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Updated: Sep 21, 2026

Assessing Endothelial Vasodilator Function with the Endo-PAT 2000
Published on: October 15, 2010
Acute exercise and markers of endothelial injury in peripheral arterial disease
K R Woodburn1, A Rumley, A Murtagh
1Unit for Peripheral Vascular Surgery, Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust, Treliske Hospital, Truro, U.K.
Objectives:
To determine the acute effects of exercise on plasma levels of markers of endothelial damage in patients with symptomatic peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD).
Design:
Prospective observational study of patients with angiographically proven PAOD undergoing treadmill exercise testing prior to surgical or radiological intervention.
Materials And Methods:
Ante-cubital venous blood sampling was performed in 20 patients with symptomatic PAOD prior to, and 2 min after, treadmill exercise testing. Samples were then assayed for von Willebrand factor (vWf), tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPa), and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) levels.
Results:
Despite a significant fall in median ankle-brachial pressure indices from 0.96 pre-exercise to 0.59 post-exercise on the right, and from 0.92 to 0.40 on the left (both p < 0.005), there were no significant changes in plasma levels of vWf, tPa, or PAI following claudication-inducing exercise.
Conclusions:
Claudication-inducing exercise does not produce acute alterations in plasma markers of endothelial damage, and the results of this study do not support the belief that claudication-inducing exercise in PAOD is damaging to vascular endothelium.
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