Evaluation of Correlation Between Angiographic and Skin Findings in Patients with Vascular (Arterial) Disease Who Were Referred to the Radiologic Ward of Shohada Hospital

Background/Objective: Digital subtraction"nangiography (DSA) in spite of inventions of novel"nimaging techniques such as CTA and MRA, has long"nbeen regarded as the gold standard technique for"nassessing arterial anatomy in patients with peripheral"nvascular disease (PVD). The role of arteriography"nin patients with PVD is to accurately demonstrate"nthe involvement or patency of all arterial segments"nfrom the aorta to the feet. The patients usually have"nobstructive disease at multiple levels and suffer from"npain, complications in the musculoskeletal system,"nand also have variable skin clinical findings."nPatients and Methods: We performed an evidenced"nbased study on 70 consecutive patients undergoing"nDSA for evaluation of arterial system from the aorta to"nthe distal of both lower extremities in the Radiologic"nDepartment of Shohada Hospital in Tehran from"nJanuary 2008 to February 2010. Skin and angiographic"nfindings were obtained from patients during the"nstudy and the correlation between these findings was"nanalyzed with SPSS version 17 software."nResults: The study population included 60 males and"n10 females with a mean age of 60.16±12.04 years (range,"n29-79 years). Twenty-nine (41%) of these patients"nwere diabetic and five had burger disease. Change in"nskin color was the most common skin finding that was"nseen in half of the patients (50%). 38% of the patients"nhad skin ulcer. The most common location of ulcer was"nthe distal of the first and second fingers. Fifty-three"n(76%) patients had pain in exertion and forty (57%)"nof the patients did not have distal pulses. The most"nprevalent angiographic findings were non-significant"natherosclerotic plaques in 1/3 proximal superficial"nfemoral arteries on both sides. Seventeen (25%)"npatients had involvement of infra renal aorta with"nsegmental non-significant atherosclerotic plaques.