Test da sforzo su ergometro nelle arteriopatie obliteranti periferiche

20 males, 48 to 66 of age, whose 10 normal and 10 with chronic arteriopatic obstruction at inferior limbs, were submitted to effort on a treadmill for 5 minutes or until pain. The clinostatic systolic aterial pressure was obtained in the four limbs before and at fixed intervals of time from the exercise. Arterial pressure increases after effort in the normal limbs; the length and the amount of the systolic pressure decrease after exercise are in correlation with the degree of the arterial involvement. The exercise on treadmill seems useful when the clinical and other diagnostic data are inadequate for a reliable diagnosis and to evaluate the progression of the arteriopathy through a non-invasive, and easy to repeat, method. The possible mechanisms of the pressor decrease in the arteriopatic limbs are discussed.