Pulse Amplitude Measured with a Portable Laser Doppler Flowmeter Is Useful for Screening of Dialysis Patients for Peripheral Arterial Disease: An Observational Study

Objective: The objective of this study was to use a portable laser Doppler flowmeter (LDF) to measure the toe blood flow and pulse amplitude as a screening test for peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in dialysis patients and compare the diagnostic abilities of the aforementioned parameters measured using an LDF with those of the ankle-brachial index (ABI) and toe brachial index (TBI). Methods: The 14 patients in this retrospective study received maintenance hemodialysis (HD). We measured the blood flow and pulse amplitude on the ventral side of the first toe with a portable LDF while the patients were undergoing an HD session. The correlations between the blood flow/pulse amplitude in the toe and the ABI/TBI were examined. Results: Both the ABI and TBI had a strong correlation with pulse amplitude. The sensitivity and specificity of the pulse amplitude measured with the LDF for detecting PAD in HD patients as determined by a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis were 1.00 and 0.88, respectively. Conclusion: Measuring the pulse amplitude in the toe with a portable LDF may serve as a simple and useful screening test for PAD in HD patients.