Objectives: To determine the acute effects of exercise on plasma levels of markers of endothelial damage in patients with symptomatic peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD).
Design: Prospective observational study of patients with angiographically proven PAOD undergoing treadmill exercise testing prior to surgical or radiological intervention.
Materials and methods: Ante-cubital venous blood sampling was performed in 20 patients with symptomatic PAOD prior to, and 2 min after, treadmill exercise testing. Samples were then assayed for von Willebrand factor (vWf), tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPa), and plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI) levels.
Results: Despite a significant fall in median ankle-brachial pressure indices from 0.96 pre-exercise to 0.59 post-exercise on the right, and from 0.92 to 0.40 on the left (both p < 0.005), there were no significant changes in plasma levels of vWf, tPa, or PAI following claudication-inducing exercise.
Conclusions: Claudication-inducing exercise does not produce acute alterations in plasma markers of endothelial damage, and the results of this study do not support the belief that claudication-inducing exercise in PAOD is damaging to vascular endothelium.