Comparison of fow-mediated vasodilation in femoral and brachial arteries in healthy dogs

Abstract

Objective-To compare fow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) measurements in brachial and femoral arteries of healthy dogs habituated to the assessment method, evaluate repeatability of these measurements, and investigate effects of blood pressure cuff infation time on femoral artery FMD measurements. Animals-11 healthy adult Miniature Schnauzers. Procedures-Arterial luminal diameter and blood fow velocity integral (FVI) were measured before and after cuff infation of 5 minutes' (brachial and femoral arteries) or 3 minutes' duration (femoral artery) in separate experiments. A blood pressure cuff was infated to > 200 mm Hg distal to each imaging site to increase local blood fow to induce reactive hyperemia. Changes in FVI after cuff defation, FMD, and between-dog and within-dog coef-fcients of variation (CVs) were determined. Results-After cuff infation of 5 minutes' duration, greater changes were detected in median change in FVI and FMD of brachial arteries (174.0% and 8.0%, respectively), compared with values determined for femoral arteries (32.0% and 2.1%, respectively). Between-dog CV for brachial artery FMD was 34.0%, compared with 89.6% for femoral arteries, and within-dog CV was 32.5% for brachial arteries versus 51.6% for femoral arteries after cuff infation of 5 minutes' duration. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance-In healthy Miniature Schnauzers, FMD was greater and more repeatable in brachial arteries than in femoral arteries. Reactive hyperemia was inconsistently induced in femoral arteries following 3- or 5-minute cuff infation times. Bra-chial, but not femoral, artery FMD measurement is a potentially useful research technique for measurement of endothelial function in dogs.