Bicycle exercise ankle brachial index recovery time as a novel metric for evaluating the hemodynamic significance of external iliac endofibrosis in competitive cyclists.

Abstract

Subtle radiographic findings can increase the challenge of diagnosing external iliac artery endofibrosis. We evaluated a new metric, the bicycle exercise ankle brachial index recovery time (BART), in a cohort of cyclists with symptomatic external iliac artery endofibrosis. BART was defined as the time required in minutes for the ankle brachial index to return to 0.9 after a period of exercise. Surgical correction resulted in an improvement in BART postoperatively (4.5 ± 4.1 vs 9.1 ± 4.3 minutes; P < .001), with improved values correlating with better patient satisfaction. Documentation of the BARTs before and after surgical treatment provides an additional measure of postoperative hemodynamic improvement.