Some little-used and obsolete methods for studying peripheral circulation in patients with occlusive arterial disease

Abstract

The extremities being so readily accessible for study, it is not surprising that a multitude of methods have been described for measurement of peripheral circulation: plethysmographic methods of a wide variety, indicator methods, ultrasound, heat clearance, oxygen tension etc. Many of these have at one time been in clinical routine use, only to be superceded by more precise and simpler methods. This paper aims at discussing this topic. No attempt will be made, however, to list all the proposed methods and their variants. That would yield too kaleidoscopic a view and one would easily risk missing some of the variants.