Femoral Venous Blood pH Changes in Response to External Graduated Leg Compression and its Relationship to Deep Vein Thrombosis

Abstract

Aim: To measure in vivo the femoral venous blood pH in response to external lower limb compression in cardiac catheterization patients.


Patients and Method: The pH was measured in discrete samples of blood withdrawn from the femoral vein before, during and after insertion of the catheterized leg into the graduated elastic stockings (T.E.D. Kendall).


Result: There was a reduction of the mean pH of the blood obtained from the femoral vein at one minute after insertion of the stocking onto the leg.


Conclusion: The changes observed might reflect the localized acidaemia in the valve cusps that may be the first part to initiate thrombus formation. The localized acidaemic condition, which although is under a powerful homeostatic mechanism, may indeed reflect one of the haemodynamic variables that are important in the homeostatic balance between thrombogenesis and fibrinolysis and therefore the pathogenesis of deep venous thrombosis.


Keywords: Ph Response, Localized Acidaemia, External Lower Limb Compression, Deep Vein Thrombosis


[Jnl College of Medicine Vol.8(2) 2003: 14-16]