Affiliations: [a]
Institute for Clinical Hemostasiology and Transfusion Medicine, University Saarland, Homburg/Saar, Germany
| [b]
Central Institute for Biomedical Engineering, University of Ulm, Germany
| [c] Praxisklinik Herz und Gefäße, Dresden, Germany
| [d]
Institute of Biomaterial Science and Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Teltow, Germany
| [e]
University of Applied Sciences Fulda, Germany
Correspondence:
[*]
Corresponding author: U. Wolf, University of Applied Sciences Fulda, Germany. E-mail:
udo.wolf@pg.hs-fulda.de.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:The laser Doppler fluxmetry (LDF) is a non-invasive method to assess skin blood perfusion, measuring the flow of blood cells inside a tissue volume without harming the tissue. In the diagnosis of skin circulation disorders, the results of the LDF measurement are generally used in such a way that “normal” (or non-ill) or “pathological” values are achieved by comparison with a reference sample, for example of apparently healthy subjects. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this study, the values of LDF for the diagnosis of microcirculatory disorders in patients with coronary artery disease (n = 20) or in patients with microcirculatory disorders, already diagnosed by capillary microscopy (n = 46), were examined. RESULTS:The mean values of LD amplitudes in the four frequency windows for patients with coronary artery disease were in the reference range. However, some of the patients showed reduced LD values: in eleven of the twenty patients, one or more mean LD amplitudes were below the reference range. Four of the eleven patients had pathologically decreased capillary erythrocyte velocities of very = 0.09–0.21 [mm/s], while the other seven patients had normal blood circulation at rest.For all patients with a proven cutaneous microcirculatory disorder, the mean LD amplitude in at least one of the frequency windows FF2 to FF4 was pathologically reduced. CONCLUSION:The Laser-Doppler fluxmetry method used in the study allows the reliable diagnosis of cutaneous microcirculatory disorders.
