Noninvasive Vascular Test with the 133Xe Clearance Technique in Assessment of Hypogastric Arteries Insufficiency

Abstract

The 133Xenon clearance technique is a valuable method of measuring blood flow in peripheral muscles. The purpose of this study was to evaluate this technique for measuring blood flow in the vascular bed of the hypogastric arteries. Clearance of 133Xenon injected intravascularly in the gluteal region was studied in 10 healthy subjects and in 25 patients with aortoiliac disease to measure muscular blood flow (MBF) in this vascular bed. At rest, average MBF was higher in healthy subjects in both gluteal muscles than in the patients with arterial disease. After exercise-induced hyperemia, maximal MBF was markedly higher in healthy subjects than in the patients. The 133Xe clearance is a simple and reliable procedure that could be especially useful for assessing the condition of the hypogastric arteries before surgical treatment of cancer in the left portion of the colon and in the rectum.