Pulsatile flow in venous perforators of the lower limb
Thomas KN, Gibbons TD, Campbell HA, Cotter JD, van Rij AM
American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology · 6 citations
Review labels
Neutral facts our review recorded about how this study was done. They describe method, never whether we like the result.
How it was studied
- Design
- Controlled clinical trial (classified by our AI screen)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Mechanisms only
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- Unclassified
- None required
Based on 1 listed funder(s).
Publication
- Published
- 2022-05-03 · Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol · vol. 323 · issue 1 · pp. R59–R67
- Publisher
- American Physiological Society
- Cited
- 11 citations · more than 78% of similar papers · 1.2× the field average
- References
- 47 works
- Access
- Paywalled
- Research areas
- Thermoregulation and physiological responses · Diagnosis and Treatment of Venous Diseases · Climate Change and Health Impacts
- Keywords
- Pulsatile flow, Medicine, Blood flow, Ultrasound, Microcirculation, Diastole, Ankle, Cardiac cycle, Vein, Core (optical fiber), Anatomy, Biomedical engineering, Perfusion, Hemodynamics, Cardiology, Internal medicine, Blood pressure, Materials science, Radiology
- MeSH
- lower extremity, leg, humans, water, blood flow velocity, pulsatile flow
5 authors
From NZ, CA
- Kate Nicole Thomas · correspondingUniversity of Otago
- Travis Dylan GibbonsUniversity of British Columbia; University of British Columbia, Okanagan Campus; University of Otago
- Holly A. CampbellUniversity of Otago
- James David CotterUniversity of Otago
- André M. van RijUniversity of Otago
Abstract
Teaching traditionally asserts that the arterial pressure pulse is dampened across the capillary bed to the extent that pulsatility is nonexistent in the venous circulation of the lower limbs. Herein, we present evidence of transmission of arterial pulsations across the capillary network into perforator veins in the lower limbs of healthy, heat-stressed humans. Perforator veins are connections from the superficial veins that drain into the deep veins. When assessed using ultrasound at rest, they infrequently demonstrate flow, and a pulsatile flow waveform is not described. We investigated perforator vein pulsatility in 10 young, healthy volunteers who underwent passive heating by +2°C core body temperature via a hot-water-perfused suit, and 5 who also underwent active heating by +2°C via low-intensity cycling while wearing the hot-water-perfused suit. At +0.5°C increments in temperature, blood velocity in an ankle perforator vein was measured using duplex ultrasound. In all perforators with heating, sustained flow was demonstrated, with a pulsatile waveform that was synchronous with the cardiac cycle. The maximum velocity was 30 ± 13 cm/s with passive heating and approximately half with active heating (P = 0.04). The small veins of the skin at the ankle also demonstrated increased perfusion with pulsatility, seen with low-velocity microvascular imaging technology. We consider explanations for this pulsatility and conclude that it is propagated from the arterial inflow through the skin microcirculation as a result of increased dilatation and flow volume and that this is a normal response to increased skin blood flow.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher.
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