A Near Infrared Spectroscopy-Based Test of Calf Muscle Function in Patients with Peripheral Arterial Disease

The objective of this study was to evaluate whether a new simple isometric near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) foot pedal test of lower leg muscles could be used for functional testing of patients suffering from peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in a daily clinical setting as an alternative to the treadmill test now being used. In a comparison of the new test and the existing treadmill test, we applied NIRS recording in both tests. We hypothesized that a pedal test would have an equal or better reproducibility than a standard treadmill test be-cause the pedal test was designed to reduce factors that influence the reproducibility. The diagnosis and clinical staging of PAD is currently based on patient symptoms of muscle ischemia combined with ankle blood pressure (ankle brachial index [ABI]), Keyword