The Effect of Sympathectomy on Blood Flow to Bone

Abstract

THE EFFECT OF SYMPATHECTOMY on skin and muscle blood flow previously has been measured by several different methods.¹ The measurement of blood flow to the bone, however, has been difficult to achieve, and data on this point have been inferential.^{2, 3} Within recent years, several methods have been described for the measurement of blood flow to a variety of tissues. These techniques are of particular interest, in that they make it possible to obtain simultaneous measurements of blood flow in several tissues in which such determinations are difficult. Method and Material The method used in this experiment has been well described by Sapirstein.⁴ Briefly, it has been shown that for many tissues of the body, the tissue content of radioactive potassium (K⁴²) or rubidium (Rb⁸⁶) present in the first minute or two after injection of the isotope into the circulation is proportional to the