Quantitative Evaluation of the Skin Circulation in Ischemic Legs by Transcutaneous Measurement of Oxygen Tension

We tried to apply transcutaneous oxygen tension (tcPo₂) in evaluating the ischemic leg quantitatively from the standpoint of the skin circulation. The tcPo₂ measurement was performed on the pretibial and dorsal skin at rest, on exercise loading, and during oxygen inhalation; tcPo₂ on the chest wall was measured as a standard value. The subjects consisted of 47 patients with ischemic legs and 20 normal healthy males without ischemic legs.

tcPo₂ in the pretibial skin had a tendency to decrease with aging. There was a correlation between pretibial tcPo₂ and ankle pressure (r = 0.51, p < 0.02). In the affected leg, each mean pretibial tcPo₂ under 3 different conditions was much lower than that of control. Pretibial tcPo₂ of patients also correlated well with the Fontaine classification of clinical severity of ischemic legs.

We concluded that transcutaneous measurements of oxygen tension at the pretibial region are useful in evaluating the ischemic leg quantitatively.