Clinical Application of Laser Doppler Flowmetry for Measurement of Cutaneous Circulation in Health and Disease

The cutaneous laser Doppler device (LDF) was employed to determine its usefulness in differentiating the circulation of the feet in normal subjects from that in patients with arteriosclerosis obliterans.

It is shown that the laser Doppler frequencies correlated well with results from venous occlusion plethysmography, which measured volume rate of flow. Thus, one can determine volume rate of flow by the simple Doppler method. There was a linear relationship between these two methods of measurements.

Using the LDF method, it was determined that normal individuals have toe flows that on the average are 42% of finger flows in supine resting subjects. In peripheral vascular disease of the lower extremities, the LDF measurements showed a decreased circulation in the large toes when the patients are supine and the lower extremities flat. The results between health and disease are exaggerated by elevating the feet, at which time the diseased circulation falls to extremely low values compared with those of normal subjects. A similar decrease in skin oxygen tension in the diseased lower extremities was observed when the limbs were elevated.