Laser Doppler blood flowmeter as a useful instrument for the early detection of lower extremity peripheral arterial disease in hemodialysis patients: an observational study.

Background: A simpler method for detecting atherosclerosis obliterans is required in the clinical setting. Laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) is easy to perform and can accurately detect deterioration in skin perfusion. We performed LDF for hemodialysis patients to determine the correlations between blood flow in the lower limbs and peripheral arterial disease (PAD).

Methods: This retrospective study included 128 hemodialysis patients. Patients were categorized into the non-PAD group (n = 106) and PAD group (n = 22), 14 early stage PAD patients were included in the PAD group. We conducted LDF for the plantar area and dorsal area of the foot and examined skin perfusion pressure (SPP) during dialysis.

Results: SPP-Dorsal Area values were 82.1 ± 22.0 mmHg in the non-PAD, and 59.1 ± 20.3 mmHg in PAD group, respectively (p < 0.05). The LDF-Plantar blood flow (Qb) values were 32.7 ± 15.5 mL/min in non-PAD group and 21.5 ± 11.3 mL/min in PAD group (p < 0.001). A total of 21 non-PAD patients underwent LDF before and during dialysis. The LDF-Plantar-Qb values were 36.5 ± 17.6 mL/min before dialysis and 29.6 ± 17.7 mL/min after dialysis (p < 0.05). We adjusted SPP and LDF for PAD using logistic regression, SPP-Dorsal-Area and LDF-P were significantly correlated with PAD (p < 0.05). The receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis indicated cut-off values of 20.0 mL/min for LDF-Plantar-Qb during dialysis.

Conclusion: LDF is a simple technique for sensitive detection of early-stage PAD. This assessment will help physicians identify early-stage PAD, including Fontaine stage II in clinical practice, thereby allowing prompt treatment.