Laser Doppler Flux in the Venous Wall

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate in vivo the perfusion of the venous wall in normal veins, varicose veins and in femoral veins of post-phlebitic limbs recording wall flux with laser Doppler flowmetry. As there is some evidence that both structure and microcirculatory dynamic responses are altered in the abnormal vein wall, we also aimed to study the response of vein wall perfusion to locally induced vasodilatation following papaverine infusion. Design: Open prospective study in patients with venous insufficiency and in patients undergoing coronary revascularization with a normal venous system. Setting: Cardiovascular Institute, Chieti University, Pierangeli Clinic, Italy and Irvine Laboratory, St Mary's Hospital, London, UK. Patients: Twenty-four normal long saphenous veins and 11 common femoral veins (35 normal veins, 35 subjects) and 42 varicose veins (42 patients). Measurements: Venous wall flux was measured on the external surface of normal long saphenous veins and common femoral veins. Measurements were also made on varicose veins before ligation of the sapheno-femoral junction. All measurements were made when at least three-quarters of the adventitia and periadventitia tissue were still intact for a length of 3 cm. Results: Flux in the normal vein wall was higher ( t = 5.88; p<0.05) than in varicose veins and in veins of post-phlebitic limbs. There was no difference in flux between varicose veins and post-phlebitic veins. After intravenous papaverine injection in a subgroup of eight normal and eight varicose veins, in the wall of normal veins there was a significant increase in flux (from 8.5 (SD 5.1) units to 13.2 (SD 3.8) units; p<0.05) which was not observed in varicose veins. Conclusions: A higher vein wall perfusion was observed in normal veins compared with varicose veins and post-phlebitic limb veins. Greater vascular reactivity to intraluminal papaverine injection was observed in normal veins.