Blood Flow in Skin and Muscle, Evaluated by Simultaneous Venous Occlusion Plethysmography and133Xe Clearance

Abstract

Bonde Petersen, F. & Siggaard-Andersen, J. Blood Flow in Skin and Muscle, Evaluated by Simultaneous Venous Occlusion Plethysmography and ¹³³Xe Clearance. Scand. J. clin. Lab. Invest. 19, 113-119, 1967. Simultaneous measurements with plethysmography and ¹³³Xe clearance were repeated 100 times in normal subjects during the period of hyperaemia following (1) ischaemia, (2) ischaemia+exercise and (3) after exercise alone. On the basis of the results, an estimate has been made of the proportions of the flow determined by plethysmography which can be ascribed to skin and muscle respectively. The following conclusions were reached from the calculations and comparisons. (1) During the first seconds of the postischaemic period, plethysmography records flow through the skin almost entirely. (2) In experiments extending over no more than a couple of minutes, values for the flow/volume based on ¹³³Xe clearance are a correct expression for the blood flow through the muscle. (3) It is important to compare the ¹³³Xe clearance method with another method of determining flow/volume, so as to elucidate the distribution between skin and muscle.