The significance of blood pressure measurements in patients with peripheral vascular disease

Abstract

Summary The pressure drop across a stenosis is related only to its geometry and the flow through it. Flow may be manipulated by changing peripheral resistance, enabling information to be gained about the severity of the stenosis. As changes in blood flow may produce changes in local blood pressure in patients with peripheral arterial disease, measurements of blood pressure should be made at flow conditions appropriate to the symptoms under investigation, or should be performed by methods which do not intrinsically alter flow.