Abstract:
Objective To investigate the hemodynamic characteristics and change trend of upper extremity arteries from the brachial artery to ipsilateral fingertip microcirculation in healthy adults.
Methods A total of 205 healthy adults from the Health Management Center of North Sichuan Medical College were enrolled in this study from August 2019 to November 2019. There were 88 males and 117 females, aged 20-80 (mean, 49±15) years, with no significant difference in sex ratio among different age groups. The right brachial artery, ulnar artery, radial artery, palmar proper digital artery, dorsal digital artery arch, and third grade artery arch of fingernail bed (FN3AA) were detected by color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) and Angio PLUS. The anatomical and hemodynamic parameters were obtained to analyze the differences and trends of the parameters among the arteries.
Results The Doppler spectrum of the upper extremity artery mainly showed four types: monophasic waveform, typical triphasic waveform, atypical triphasic waveform, and other rare waveforms. The proportion of monophasic waveform increased gradually from the brachial artery to the palmar proper digital artery(Mantel-Haenszel χ2=139.457, Spearman's R=-0.477, P＜0.001). The waveform of fingertip arteries was monophasic.When the brachial artery showed the monophasic waveform,its branches also showed the same waveform.There were statistically significant differences in vessel diameter, peak systolic flow velocity (PSV), resistance index (RI), pulsatility index (PI), blood flow volume velocity, and systolic blood flow acceleration from the brachial artery to FN3AA (Cruskal-Wallis H=898.478, 802.719, 613.528, 656.745, 836.189, and 868.450, respectively; P＜0.01 for all), and these parameters showed a decreasing trend related to the anatomical position of arteries (Spearman's R=-0.930, -0.871, -0.768, -0.793, -0.891, and -0.921, respectively; P＜0.01 for all).
Conclusion The vessel diameter and hemodynamic parameters present regular gradient changes among upper extremity arteries. Conventional high-frequency color Doppler combined with Angio PLUS could be used to monitor the hemodynamic status of upper extremity arteries at different levels.
Key words:
Upper extremity,
Hemodynamics,
Brachial artery,
Fingertip microcirculation,
Ultrasonography,
Angio planewave ultrasensitive imaging
Xueyan Tan, Wensheng Yue, Sisi Chen, Yuan Zou, Xinru Huang, Lili Yu, Lixue Yin. Hemodynamic gradient changes of upper extremity arteries from the brachial artery to fingertip microcirculation in healthy adults[J]. Chinese Journal of Medical Ultrasound (Electronic Edition), 2021, 18(02): 193-198.