Some interrelations between blood pressure parameters and claudication distances.

Sixty males and 2 females with the mean age of 58.1 years ranging from 39 to 80 years with atherosclerotic lesions of the arteries of lower extremities were studied. The claudication distance was subdivided into two segments: the first included the distance up to the onset of pain and the second one when the patients had to stop walking because of the severity of pain. The systemic systolic pressure and the poststenotic ankle pressure over both arteries on both calves by a Doppler ultrasound apparatus were measured and the individual pressure gradients were calculated. It was demonstrated that both claudication intervals were related to the poststenotic pressure as well as to the pressure gradient. The stepwise regression analysis showed a significant relationship between both distances and the lowest value of all ankle pressure measurements over four tibial arteries. The closest correlation (R = 0.98) was recorded between the initial and final claudication distance and it persisted even after the elimination of all pressure parameters.