We investigated whether medial arterial calcification (MAC) impairs O2 supply to the exercising foot in diabetic patients with foot lesions. Transcutaneous O2 tension (tcPO2) was monitored at the dorsum of the foot before and after bicycle exercise in 11 diabetic patients with peripheral ischemic vascular disease (PIVD) with or without concomitant existence of MAC, 10 patients with MAC but without PIVD, 10 diabetic control subjects, and 6 nondiabetic control subjects. The mean preexercise tcPO2 level was comparable in these four groups. However, tcPO2 decreased significantly with exercise in feet with PIVD (mean +/- SE -17.9 +/- 2.7%, P less than 0.01, n = 11), regardless of presence or absence of vascular calcification. On the other hand, the value increased significantly with exercise in feet with MAC but without PIVD (21.2 +/- 3.5%, P less than 0.01, n = 10) and in those of diabetic control subjects (14.9 +/- 3.6%, P less than 0.01), respectively. The tcPO2 remained unchanged in the feet of nondiabetic control subjects (1.7 +/- 1.1%). The results suggest that MAC is not associated with reduced O2 supply to the exercising foot in diabetic patients.