[Femoral artery compression test: a non-invasive method for detection of obstructive injury of the internal iliac artery].

For non-invasive detection of obstructive disease in the internal iliac artery, the femoral compression test was devised. This test consists in the compression of the inguinal arcade of the patient with the examiner's thumb, until the disappearance of the arterial beats in this region and peripherically in the correspondent lower limb, while one auscultates the sound in the dorsal penial artery with ultrasonic stethoscope and measures the penial pressure. The test was considered positive when there was abolition of sound in the penial artery, or reduction superior to 15% in the penial pressure. The test was negative when there was no abolition or reduction of sound and pressure, as referred respectively. In 15 normal individuals the 30 tests, one for each inguinal region, were negative. In 23 patients with ischemia of lower limbs registered by the analysis of angiographies to which they were submitted, there were 39 tests, one in each inguinal region, in which there was femoral pulsation. There was abolition of sound in the penial dorsal artery in 20 of 22 tests in which the arteriography showed obstruction of the homolateral internal iliac artery. In 15 tests, in which there was reduction of penial pressure, the arteriography showed presence of unique or multiple stenosis in the internal homolateral iliac artery. In two cases of patency of the internal homolateral iliac artery, the test was negative. The positivity of the test was significantly higher in patients with obstructive lesions of internal iliac artery when compared to normal individuals (p < 0.001, chi-square test).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)