Vascular Profile Screening Tests: A New Approach to the Detection of Vascular Disease

Abstract

By means of a four‐electrode plethysmograph, blood pulse volume changes were determined over the head, neck torso and extremities in healthy subjects and in patients with vascular disease in these areas. The amplitudes of the recorded pulses, plotted bilaterally from the central line of a body silhouette, provided an outline or profile of the vascular supply. In healthy subjects the characteristic outline was symmetrical, but in patients with vascular disease it was asymmetrical in the specific areas involved. Such qualitative identification of vascular abnormalities according to recognized patterns decreases the time required to evaluate numerical data, and indicates the vascular areas in which there should be more quantitative assessment. This screening procedure is useful for the detection of early vascular disease and, when combined with quantitative evaluation, for a guide in the therapeutic management of older patients with established vascular disease.