Lumbar sympathectomy and blood flow in the lower extremity

Abstract

Blood flow in the superficial femoral artery and skin and muscle blood flows in the lower leg were measured in twenty-two patients before and one month after lumbar sympathectomy. The following conclusions were drawn: 1. (1) Lumbar sympathectomy markedly improved blood flow in the superficial femoral artery and decreased peripheral resistance. No correlation was found between these hemodynamic changes and improvement in clinical manifestations. 2. (2) Lumbar sympathectomy for intermittent claudication increased blood flow in the superficial femoral artery and skin blood flow through a decrease in peripheral resistance, but it in no way altered the muscle blood flow. No significant difference was noted in the degree of increase of muscle blood flow between the group with improved claudication and the unchanged group, but the skin blood flow tended to increase more markedly in the improved group than in the unchanged group. The improvement in claudication caused by lumbar sympathectomy thus appears to be due to a factor other than increased muscle blood flow.