Blood rheology fibrin degradation products and von Willebrand factor in arterial and venous blood of patients with peripheral arterial disease

Fasting venous samples were obtained, without stasis, from the ante-cubital veins of 15 patients (mean age 63yrs, S.D.llyrs) with symptomatic peripheral arterial disease, using a 19gauge needle. Diagnosis of peripheral vascular disease was based on an ankle-brachial pressure index (ABPn of less than 0.85, together with a fall in the ABPI on walking, and a Seldinger arteriogram showing a stenosis of greater than 50% at a site appropriate to the symptoms. Arterial samples were obtained between 2 and 4 hours later at angioplasty, when samples of arterial blood were taken through a size 5 french angiography catheter, at the site