Aortic & peripheral vascular disease
Microvascular Function and Ambulatory Capacity in Peripheral Artery Disease
An erratum to this article was published (Circ Cardiovasc Interv, Apr 2026 ↗)
Authors' conclusion
Microvascular reactivity after ischemia directly associates with walking distance and was a stronger predictor of walking distance than macrovascular blood inflow and ABI. After supervised exercise therapy or revascularization, improvements in microvascular function, but not macrovascular inflow or ABI, correlate with improvement in walking distance.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with PAD and healthy controls undergoing MRI vascular function assessment after cuff-induced calf ischemia
- Participants
- 68 patients
- Comparison
- PAD vs healthy controls; microvascular vs macrovascular function and ankle-brachial index (ABI) as correlates of walking distance
- Peripheral artery diseasen = 50
- Healthy controlsn = 18reference
- Outcome
- Association of skeletal muscle microvascular BOLD reactivity, macrovascular blood inflow and ABI with 6-minute walk test distance
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
ABI correlation (univariable), R=0.74
P<0.001
Macrovascular blood inflow correlation (univariable), R=0.40
P<0.001
Microvascular BOLD reactivity correlation (univariable), R=0.66
P<0.001
Microvascular reactivity most strongly associated (multivariable), β=825.3
P=0.023
Further findings
Change in 6-minute walk test distance after intervention (supervised exercise therapy n=14 or revascularization n=14)
- Change in microvascular reactivity correlated, R=0.46
- P = 0.014
- Change in ABI or macrovascular blood inflow not significantly correlated
Original publication
Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it