POWER DOPPLER SONOGRAPHY - USE IN MEASURING ALTERATIONS IN MUSCLE BLOOD-VOLUME AFTER EXERCISE

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to show the ability of power Doppler sonography (PDS) to evaluate exercise-induced changes in muscl e blood volume. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. We evaluated 20 biceps muscles w ith PDS in 10 healthy volunteers before and after they underwent a sta ndardized exercise protocol. Intramuscular blood volume was qualitativ ely analyzed using a subjective scoring system to evaluate vascular co nspicuity, comparing sonograms obtained before and after exercise. We also collected preliminary data on the quantification of estimated fra ctional moving blood volume (EFMBV) measured on sonograms obtained in eight biceps muscles of five volunteers. Assessment of significance wa s calculated using a Wilcoxon signed-rank correlation of significance. The stability of relative changes in EFMBV was also assessed with mea surements performed at three different times in five healthy volunteer s. RESULTS. With exercise, all 20 biceps muscles showed a significant subjective increase in apparent vascularity (p < .0005). Likewise, pre liminary data on EFMBV showed significant increases (p < .01) between baseline and peak exercise values (mean, 470%; range, 180-900%). CONCL USION, PDS revealed marked increases in intramuscular vascular conspic uity after exercise. EFMBV provided a potentially useful parameter to document such increases quantitatively.