Does venous insufficiency impair the exercise-induced rise in arterial leg blood flow?

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: It has been shown that the leg muscle pump increases the immediate rise in arterial leg blood flow during upright exercise in healthy subjects. The present study is the first to investigate the muscle pump effect in exercise hyperaemia in patients with venous insufficiency, who should be lacking an optimally functioning muscle pump. METHODS: Any muscle pump effect is more pronounced in an upright position because of gravitation. The exercise-induced rise in femoral artery flow (FF) (ultrasound Doppler) was thus compared in the supine and 30° head-up tilted position in 10 patients. RESULTS: Neither the transient nor the steady-state rise in FF showed any difference between positions. This is in contrast to the previous findings in healthy subjects, where the transient rise in FF was larger in the tilted position. CONCLUSION: The muscle pump effect in exercise hyperaemia seems to be reduced or lacking in these patients.