Correlação entre índice-tornozelo braço e medidas de termografia em pacientes com doença arterial periférica

Abstract

Purpose: to correlate the ankle-brachial index (ABI) and photographic thermography (PT) in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD). Methods: PT was performed at the foot level, and ABI was measured in 72 lower limbs of patients with PAD divided into calcified and non-calcified artery groups. The non calcified artery group was classified by PAD severity as asymptomatic, mild, moderate, and severe. The calcified artery group comprised patients with ABI greater than 1.4. The Fisher’s exact test was used for categorical data and the Wilcoxon test for numeric data. Results: the Spearman’s correlation between ABI and PT according to the mean foot sole temperature showed strong correlation (R=0.7) in patients without lower limb artery calcification. R2 indicated that the ABI influenced the foot temperature by 48.8%. Linear regression presented a predictor equation equal to Y=3.296*X+29.75, where ABI (X) can be predicted based on temperature values. The Spearman’s correlation test showed no significance (p=0.2174) in patients with artery calcification, showing no correlation between ABI and mean foot sole temperature. However, the Kruskal-Wallis test with post-hoc analysis with Dunn’s test for multiple comparisons showed that the mean foot sole temperature is lower in patients with artery calcification than in asymptomatic patients. Conclusion: PT has a strong correlation with ABI in patients with non-calcified arteries. Due to its strong correlation with ITB, photographic thermography is a reliable method for evaluating patients with PAD in non-calcified arteries.