Brachial artery flow pattern and clinical backgrounds in patients with angina pectoris

Blood flow velocity of the brachial artery was measured noninvasively by ultrasound pulsed Doppler technique under the guidance of a B-mode ultrasound image in 56 patients with angina pectoris. There was no significant stenosis along the brachial artery on a B-mode image. The authors investigated seven clinical backgrounds for each patient, ie, age, gender, absence or presence of smoking, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and the number of significantly stenosed (> or =50%) coronary arteries. Among these variables, the determinants of the brachial artery velocity profile were selected by stepwise multiple regression analysis. Selected variables were the presence of hypertension for peak systolic velocity (R=0.276), age and the number of diseased vessels for peak reverse velocity (R=0.624), and age for peak diastolic velocity (R=0.609). The peak systolic velocity was larger in patients with hypertension than in those without it (0.565+/-0.023 vs 0.490+/-0.013 m/see, P<0.05), and the peak reverse velocity was larger in patients with multivessel disease than those without it (-0.117+/-0.071 vs -0.053+/-0.081 m/sec, P<0.01). Thus, the level of flow velocity of the brachial artery in patients with angina pectoris was partly determined by age, hypertension, and severity of coronary artery disease. The simple measurement of brachial artery flow velocity suggests changes in peripheral vasculature related to atherosclerosis.