Correlation between plantar acceleration time and Doppler ultrasound with the ankle-brachial index in patients with peripheral arterial disease

Abstract

Background: Due to the inaccuracy of the ankle-brachial index, especially in diabetic patients, different alternative strategies have been considered to evaluate patients with peripheral arterial disease, such as the measurement of plantar acceleration time with Doppler ultrasound. The use of plantar acceleration time was described, which consists of measuring the morphology of the wave produced by the time elapsed from the beginning of systole until reaching the maximum systolic peak, as represented on Doppler ultrasound. A morphological change in the wave could indicate some interaction due to the presence of resistance to flow and arterial ductility. Methods: Sixty-five inframalleolar ultrasound studies were performed in patients with peripheral arterial disease. The acceleration time was calculated, and statistical analysis was conducted using linear regression and analysis of variance. The patients were correlated with the ankle-brachial index and among the studied inframalleolar arteries. Results: Correlations were calculated with a non-parametric method: Spearman's correlation coefficient and it was identified that the plantar acceleration time was not significantly correlated with the ankle-brachial index. Probably due to the presence of non-compressible ankle-brachial indices, a significant correlation was found between the inframalleolar arteries studied. Conclusions: The plantar acceleration time is a necessary complementary study for evaluating patients with peripheral arterial disease. It is essential to perform more inframalleolar ultrasound studies in patients for whom the ankle-brachial index is compressible and assessable, to establish a significant correlation within our population.