Pulse wave from transit ratios in the assessment of peripheral vascular disease.

This paper presents a ratio of the pulse wave form transit times in the proximal and distal arterial tree, produced by a simple, non-invasive, repeatable and reproducible technique. It has been shown to be highly significant in separating normal from disease states and the proximal from the distal lesion. It has been shown to be independent of the effects of age. In the clinical situation the ratio is of value in the initial assessment of the patient (by separating ischaemic from now-ischaemic limb pain); in elucidation of significant occult proximal lesions in the presence of distal disease; in indicating the type of angiography required (femoral arteriography rather than translumbar aortography in suitable subjects); in following the progress of patients in operative and conservative management régimes; and in the long term follow-up of the natural history of obliterative vascular disease.