THE MAGNITUDE AND TIME OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLLATERAL CIRCULATION IN OCCLUDED FEMORAL, CAROTID AND CORONARY ARTERIES

Abstract

The time rate of collateral development was studied in the femoral, carotid and coronary arteries, by means of the retrograde pressure and flow. In the femoral artery immediately after occlusion the retrograde pressure and flow approx. 20 mm. Hg and 10-15 cc. per min., respectively. Immediately, a small pulse appears and these values rise rapidly for a few hrs. and then more slowly for days and weeks until pulse and flow may approach those existing in the other intact femoral artery. In the carotid artery the initial retrograde pressure and flow are somewhat greater than in the femoral artery; a pulse is always present and these approach more quickly the normal for the other carotid. Following coronary occlusion the retrograde flow is nearly constant at values between 0.5-5.8 cc. per min. and then after some hrs. it, together with the peripheral diastolic pressure, increases very slowly to obtain sizeable values in a wk. or so. As in coronary arteries occluded for many wks., the major source of such retrograde flow may be the other coronary arteries.