The peripheral resistance in arteries of legs is inversely proportional to the severity of chronic venous insufficiency.

Abstract

There are conflicting reports in the literature about the existence of arteriovenous shunting in legs with chronic venous insufficiency. Using duplex scanning, we have earlier shown that there is lowered peripheral resistance in the arteries of legs with venous ulcer together with premature venous filling in angiography. In the present study we investigated the peripheral resistance in the arteries of 16 legs with chronic venous insufficiency without present ulcer. We compared the results with those obtained from 12 healthy legs and from 18 legs with venous ulcer. There was a highly significant inverse correlation between the severity of chronic venous insufficiency and the peripheral resistance in the popliteal, the dorsal pedal and the posterior tibial arteries (p < 0.001). These results suggest that there is arteriovenous shunting in legs with chronic venous insufficiency and that this phenomenon correlates with the degree of chronic venous insufficiency.