[Behavior of post-ischemic reactive hyperemia in increasing periods of circulatory arrest in healthy subjects and in patients with peripheral obliterating arteriopathy].

Reactive hyperemia was studied by plethysmographic measurement of the blood flow in the calf in normal subjects and in patients with peripheral arterial disease following circulatory arrest for periods ranging between 1 and 20 minutes. The duration of occlusion is an important factor in determining the behaviour of reactive hyperemia. Peak flow increases significantly when there is up to 10 minutes of circulatory arrest. Following release of an occlusion of 15 or 20 minutes, the further rise of peak flow is very moderate. The duration of subsequent hyperemia is greater in patients than in normal subjects, when the length of the occlusion is of 1 to 10 minutes. When circulatory arrest is prolonged for more than 10 minutes, the recovery time of basal flow is significantly greater in normal subjects. Several mechanisms are involved in reactive hyperemia; their relative importance may vary with the duration of occlusion. Circulatory arrest of 3--5 minutes is a useful clinical test to screen patients with arterial occlusive disease. It is not the best for a full evaluation of the blood flow in the lower limbs either in normal subjects or in partients.