One minute foot scan can assist prevent amputation – here is how

Imagine that I blocked the arteries in your legs and not knowing it. Firstly, There can be no symptoms. Just sporadic fatigue, cramps or discomfort – Symptoms effortless to reject as aging or absent.

But as the blood flow deteriorates, a miniature cut on the foot may not heal. Maybe turn into an ulcer. In the worst cases, this can lead to amputation. This condition is called peripheral artery disease (PAD) – and is much more common than many realize.

The pad affects around one in five people Over 60 years in Great Britain and is particularly common In people with diabetes, high blood pressure or kidney disease.

Pad rarely is an isolated problem: Usually it is a common sign atherosclerosisThe accumulation of fat deposits, which can also narrow the arteries in the heart and brain.

It is too significantly increases the risk heart attacks, strokes and other conditions associated with impoverished blood flow with critical organs. Research shows that a gigantic part of the diagnosed pad will die within five to ten yearsMost often because of these complications.

Early detection is the key to reducing the influence of the pad and I worked with my friends To develop a faster, simpler way to diagnose it.

Padu testing

Doctors can check circulation in the feet, comparing blood pressure in the fingers from the shoulder in the shoulder. The result is known as Finger indicator – brachial (TBI). The problem is that the test requires a cuff of fingertips, an optical sensor and a doctor who knows how to utilize equipment.

Many GP operations and football clinics I don’t have this set. And in many people, especially with diabetes or stiff arteries, the test does not always give a clear or reliable result.

Our research team asked a plain question: can we change routine ultrasound scanning in a quick, reliable way to measure blood flow in the foot?

Most hospitals and many social clinics already have manual ultrasonic probes that utilize Doppler’s sound to track blood flow through the vessels.

This works through the Doppler effect: when the blood moves, it changes the height of the sound waves. A well blood flow creates a forceful, constant “Swoosh”, while a vanah or blocked artery produces a frail or disturbed sound. Doctors are trained to hear the difference and utilize these sound patterns to detect circulation problems, especially in conditions such as pad.

But my research team wondered if the computer could do more than listen: we wanted to know if it could convert the shape of this “wave” of Doppler into a number that reflects TBI.

To examine, we scanned the feet of patients that are already treated for a pad – a total of 150 feet. For each artery, we used the ultrasound of Doppler to measure how quickly the blood increased with every heartbeat, a pattern known as an acceleration indicator. Then we compared these results with a standard finger indicator -a way, a classic test that measures blood pressure in your fingers.

One -minute scan, almost perfect fit

The acceleration indicator itself was able to predict the standard finger indicator -a member with 88% accuracy. With the assist of a plain formula, we converted this Doppler reading into “estimated TBI” – a number that strictly reflected a conventional result. He did not need a cuff, without an optical sensor and took a miniature minute.

Even more encouraging, estimated TBI increased in tandem with classic TBI results after treatment. When Patients have undergone angioplasty – the re -opening procedure – their estimated TBI increased almost identically with the measured TBI. This means that this scan not only helps to diagnose the pad; It can also be used to track recovery over time.

Most importantly, our approach works with equipment that is already widely available. We repeated the experiment with the assist of a basic pocket money: a kind of many GPS and podiatriers caught in a drawer.

Although it was not as precise as the ultrasound of the hospital class, the results were still forceful. Thanks to the additional improvement of software, doctors can soon quickly and accurately assess the circulation of the feet, using the tools they already have, without adding time to the tight schedule of the clinic.

Why early detection matters

Because Early diagnosis of pad changes everything. This may mean the difference between loss of foot, maintaining mobility and a longer life with a better quality of life. It can shorten hospital stays and reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

But now too many people with a pad are not diagnosed until they have Chronic ischemia threatening the limbs – The most severe form of the disease. This condition occurs when blood flow to the legs or feet becomes critically low, depriving oxygen tissue. It can cause constant foot pain (especially at night), wounds that do not heal, and in advanced cases of tissue (gangrene) and the risk of amputation. Without urgent treatment to restore circulation, chronic ischemia threatening the limbs can be life -threatening.

Part of the problem is that the tools used to diagnose the pad are often snail-paced, costly or too complicated for routine utilize. That is why a plain Doppler scan, which ensures reliable estimation of a finger indicator, is so promising. It uses equipment that already has many clinics, takes less than a minute and provides immediate results – by offering a faster, easier way to detect impoverished circulation before grave damage caused.

We are now looking for ways to automate the measurement so that it can be used even by non-socialists. We test it in various clinics with different patient groups and examine its performance in time. But previous evidence suggests that this may become a key part of vascular care – not only in hospitals, but in GP operations, diabetes clinics and anywhere else in early intervention can save the limb.

Blocked arteries do not have to be hidden. Thanks to the appropriate tools, we can find them in advance, treat them faster and protect people from the destructive consequences of overdue diagnosis.