PERIPHERAL ARTERY DISEASE IN PATIENTS WITH CORONARY-ARTERY DISEASE

The prevalence of peripheral vascular disease in patients with coronar y artery disease has been investigated in many different ways and depe nds on the diagnostic methods and the definition of the atheroscleroti c manifestations in the different vascular beds. In this study we used the non-invasive methods digital volume pulse plethysmography and ank le and toe blood pressure measurements to identify arterial abnormalit ies in the lower limbs in 58 patients (49 males and 9 females; age 37- 72 years) examined with coronary angiography. The prevalence of periph eral artery disease was 22%, in agreement with the results of most pre vious investigations. There was a tendency towards increasing prevalen ce of peripheral artery disease with more advanced coronary artery dis ease: 14% of the patients with no or minimal coronary atheromotous les ions, 18% of the patients with moderate coronary atheromotous lesions and 32% of the patients with marked coronary atheromotous disease. For this reason a non-invasive investigation of the peripheral arterial c irculation should be included early in the clinical consideration of p atients with chest pain or similar symptoms suggesting coronary heart disease. Toe pressure measurement appears to be the mast appropriate t echnique being rather simple in management and also in evaluation of r esults.