Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the ratio of baseline perfusion levels in the skin of the palmar surfaces of the fingers and plantar surfaces of the big toe in healthy volunteers and patients with diabetes mellitus. Three study groups were included: healthy volunteers (group 1, n = 29), patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) without diabetic foot syndrome (group 2, n = 27), and patients with diabetic foot syndrome (group 3, n = 27). All subjects were measured for the level of perfusion in the skin of the upper and lower extremities using the method of incoherent optical fluctuation flowmetry (IOFF). Perfusion was assessed in perfusion units (p.u.). The measurement was carried out sequentially, first on the left side of the body, then on the right. The baseline perfusion values from the index finger of the hand (BPh) and from the big toe of the foot (BPf) in perfusion units (p.u.) were assessed at rest. The BPh value in group 1 was 11.5 [5.4; 16.8] p.u.; in group 2, 17.4 [13.2; 24.8] p.u.; in group 3, 18.4 [13.2; 23.6] p.u. The BPh level was statistically significantly lower in group 1 than in groups 2 (p1–2 < 0.001) and 3 (p1–3 < 0.001). There was no statistically significant difference in finger perfusion between groups 2 and 3 (p2–3 = 1). The BPf values in groups 1, 2, and 3 were 4.4 [2.3; 8.8], 7.9 [5.4; 14.6], and 3.9 [1; 9.9] p.u., respectively. The BPf level in group 2 was higher than in group 1 (p1–2 = 0.006), but the parameter in group 3 was comparable to the values from group 1 (p1–3 = 0.73) and different from group 2 (p2–3 < 0.001). Thus, in group 3, there was a pseudonormalization of this index due to abnormally low BPf values in the extremities with hemodynamically significant stenoses. The baseline perfusion ratio (BPh/BPf) in groups 1, 2, and 3 was 2.11 [1.22; 3.03], 1.91 [1.18; 3.92], and 4.29 [1.8; 12.84], respectively. The BPh/BPf ratio in group 3 was significantly higher than in groups 1 (p1–3 < 0.001) and 2 (p2–3 < 0.001). The ability to detect the presence of hemodynamically significant lower limb arterial stenoses was analyzed by the BPf and BPh/BPf indices; the area under the ROC curve for BPf was 0.808 (0.729; 0.887); for BPh/BPf, 0.855 (0.782; 0.928). It was shown that an increase in the BPh/BPf ratio to exceed 3.7 with a sensitivity of 75.7% and a specificity of 81.4% indicates the presence of hemodynamically significant stenoses according to the ROC analysis. The presence of arterial blood flow abnormalities in the great arteries of the lower extremities leads to a significant reduction in BPf level. Calculation of the BPh/BPf ratio is more informative in identifying limbs with hemodynamically significant stenoses than the BPf level and can be used as a screening method for identifying patients with lower limb arterial disease.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Tibiriçá, E., Lorenzo, A., and Oliveira, G.M.M., Microcirculation and cardiovascular diseases, Arq. Bras. Cardiol., 2018, vol. 111, no. 2, p. 120.
Strain, W.D. and Paldánius, P.M., Diabetes, cardiovascular disease and the microcirculation, Cardiovasc. Diabetol., 2018, vol. 17, no. 1, p. 57.
Fuchs, D., Dupon, P.P., Schaap, L.A., and Draijer, R., The association between diabetes and dermal microvascular dysfunction non-invasively assessed by laser Doppler with local thermal hyperemia: a systematic review with meta-analysis, Cardiovasc. Diabetol., 2017, vol. 16, no. 1, p. 11.
Laurent, S., Agabiti-Rosei, C., Bruno, R.M., and Rizzoni, D., Microcirculation and macrocirculation in hypertension: a dangerous cross-link? Hypertension, 2022, vol. 79, no. 3, p. 479.
Fredriksson, I., Larsson, M., Nyström, F.H., et al., Reduced arteriovenous shunting capacity after local heating and redistribution of baseline skin blood flow in type 2 diabetes assessed with velocity-resolved quantitative laser Doppler flowmetry, Diabetes, 2010, vol. 59, no. 7, p. 1578.
Maksimov, A.L., Averyanova, I.V., and Kharin, A.V., Changes in cardiohemodynamic parameters, cardiointervalography and microcirculation observed in local cold test in young men born in northern regions, Hum. Physiol., 2017, vol. 43, no. 4, p. 455.
Filina, M.A., Potapova, E.V., Makovik, I.N., et al., Functional changes of blood microcirculation in the skin of the foot during heating tests in patients with diabetes mellitus, Hum. Physiol., 2017, vol. 43, no. 6, p. 693.
Sorelli, M., Francia, P., Bocchi, L., et al., Assessment of cutaneous microcirculation by laser Doppler flowmetry in type 1 diabetes, Microvasc. Res., 2019, vol. 124, p. 91.
Colberg, S.R., Parson, H.K., Nunnold, T., et al., Effect of an 8-week resistance training program on cutaneous perfusion in type 2 diabetes, Microvasc. Res., 2006, vol. 71, no. 2, p. 121.
Jan, Y.K., Liao, F., Cheing, G.L.Y., et al., Differences in skin blood flow oscillations between the plantar and dorsal foot in people with diabetes mellitus and peripheral neuropathy, Microvasc. Res., 2019, vol. 122, p. 45.
Kulikov, D.A., Glazkov, A.A., Kovaleva, Yu.A., et al., Prospects of laser Doppler flowmetry application in assessment of skin microcirculation in diabetes, Diabetes Mellitus, 2017, vol. 20, no. 4, p. 279.
Rogers, R.K., Montero-Baker, M., Biswas, M., et al., Assessment of foot perfusion: overview of modalities, review of evidence, and identification of evidence gaps, Vasc. Med., 2020, vol. 25, no. 3, p. 235.
Glazkov, A.A., Lapitan, D.G., Makarov, V.V., and Rogatkin, D.A., Optical non-invasive automated device for the study of central and peripheral hemodynamics, Fiz. Osn. Priborostr., 2021, vol. 10, no. 4(42), p. 28.
Lapitan, D.G. and Rogatkin, D.A., Optical incoherent technique for noninvasive assessment of blood flow in tissues: theoretical model and experimental study, J. Biophotonics, 2021, vol. 14, no. 5. e202000459
Sorelli, M., Stoyneva, Z., Mizeva, I., and Bocchi, L., Spatial heterogeneity in the time and frequency properties of skin perfusion, Physiol. Meas., 2017, vol. 38, no. 5, p. 860.
Hsiu, H., Hu, H.F., and Tsai, H.C., Differences in laser—Doppler indices between skin-surface measurement sites in subjects with diabetes, Microvasc. Res., 2018, vol. 115, p. 1.
Pasyk, K.A., Thomas, S.V., Hassett, C.A., et al., Regional differences in capillary density of the normal human dermis, Plast. Reconstr. Surg., 1989, vol. 83, no. 6, p. 939.
Maiti, R., Duan, M., Danby, S.G., et al., Morphological parametric mapping of 21 skin sites throughout the body using optical coherence tomography, J. Mech. Behav. Biomed. Mater., 2020, vol. 102, p. 103501.
Jonasson, H., Bergstrand, S., and Fredriksson, I., Normative data and the influence of age and sex on microcirculatory function in a middle-aged cohort: results from the SCAPIS study, Am. J. Physiol.: Heart Circ. Physiol., 2020, vol. 318, no. 4, p. H908.
Forsythe, R.O. and Hinchliffe, R.J., Assessment of foot perfusion in patients with a diabetic foot ulcer, Diabetes. Metab. Res. Rev., 2016, vol. 32, suppl. 1, p. 232.
Bajwa, A., Wesolowski, R., Patel, A., et al., Assessment of tissue perfusion in the lower limb current methods and techniques under development, Circ. Cardiovasc. Imaging, 2014, vol. 7, no. 5, p. 836.
Siao, R.M., So, M.J., and Gomez, M.H., Pulse oximetry as a screening test for hemodynamically significant lower extremity peripheral artery disease in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus, J. ASEAN Fed. Endocr. Soc., 2018, vol. 33, no. 2, p. 130.
Funding
Examination of patients and healthy volunteers was sponsored by JSC “Elatma Instrument-Making Enterprise.” The data analysis was carried out as part of the work under the State assignment of the Ministry of Health of Moscow oblast, the research study “New Approaches to the Comprehensive Assessment of Peripheral Hemodynamic Parameters the Management of Patients with Diseases of Various Etiologies.”
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the biomedical ethics principles formulated in the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments and approved by the Independent Ethics Committee (IEC) of the Moscow Regional Research and Clinical Institute (MONIKI) (Moscow) (protocol no. 13 of November 7, 2019) and the Ethics Committee of the Almazov National Medical Research Center, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (Moscow) (extract no. 27 112 019, meeting no. 11–19 of November 11, 2019).
Conflict of interest. JSC “Elatma Instrument-Making Enterprise” sponsored the examination of patients and healthy volunteers and also provided a prototype of the device for scientific research. The company did not take part in data processing, description of the results, and was not involved in any of the stages of writing the text of this article. The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Informed consent. Each study participant provided a voluntary written informed consent signed by him after explaining to him the potential risks and benefits, as well as the nature of the upcoming study.
Additional information
Translated by E. Babchenko
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Glazkov, A.A., Glazkova, P.A., Kovaleva, Y.A. et al. Ratio of Perfusion in the Skin of the Index Finger and Big Toe in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Hum Physiol 48, 740–747 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119722700025
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119722700025