Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Assessment Following Exercise Training in Patients With Intermittent Claudication and in Untrained Healthy Participants

Abstract

Selected near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) parameters were assessed in healthy untrained participants and in peripheral arterial disease (PAD) trained patients to evaluate their usefulness in rehabilitative outcome. Forty-five PAD and 15 healthy participants were studied at entry and at 34 ± 2 weeks. Healthy participants performed their usual activities. Patients with PAD performed 2 home-based programs: structured at prescribed pace (S-pre, n = 31) and unstructured at free pace (U-free, n = 14). We measured ankle-brachial index (ABI), NIRS calf oxygen consumption at rest, NIRS dynamic muscle perfusion during an incremental test, and walking capacity. In all patients with PAD the NIRS parameters significantly increased approaching the stable values of untrained healthy participants. Among PAD, only S-pre group showed significant improvements in hemodynamic, functional, and NIRS parameters with selective adaptations in the worse legs. The assessment of NIRS parameters, that were found stable without training in healthy and modified in PAD only following structured training, might outline the local exercise-induced adaptations.

Muscle oxygen consumption by NIRS and mobility in multiple sclerosis patients

“…In that case a possible compensatory mechanism to the lack of oxygen has been hypothesized. To support this hypothesis of plastic peripheral adaptations in the O 2 system, different rmVO 2 values were observed in the legs of PAD patients after a 6-month exercise program, with increased values in limbs without hemodynamic improvements and lower changes (decrease) in the limbs less ischemic following rehabilitation [13]. …”

“…), sheds some light on non-invasive muscle evaluation by NIRS in MS. rmVO 2 at gastrocnemius, a quick and painless measurement suitable for a clinical setting [12], might represent a biomarker of peripheral adaptations related to patients’ mobility. It was found to be stable in repeated measurements in normally active, healthy subjects, and modified following 6-month training in PAD patients with a different adaptive response according to the hemodynamic changes observed in each leg [13]. Along these lines, investigations into rmVO 2 might be an interesting issue in MS, for the purpose of monitoring rehabilitative programs.…”

“…Along these lines, investigations into rmVO 2 might be an interesting issue in MS, for the purpose of monitoring rehabilitative programs. In the present study, we focused on gastrocnemius, based on previous experience [12,13], and its relation to mobility. However, other muscle groups can also be measured to observe whether changes in rmVO 2 occur in MS during the progression of the disease or in response to treatments.…”

“…A parameter that can be easily measured by NIRS is the local resting muscle oxygen consumption (rmVO 2 ) [10], which allows a quantification of the muscle’s capacity to extract oxygen from blood. This parameter was found to be impaired in legs of patients with chronic diseases [5,7,8,11,12], and modified following exercise training in peripheral arterial disease (PAD) [13]. Therefore, rmVO 2 might be potentially useful in a clinical setting for assessing the level of skeletal muscle metabolic impairment, and for detecting muscle modifications following the progression of the disease, therapeutic treatments or rehabilitative programs.…”

Review of near-infrared methods for wound assessment

“…Despite these complications, approximate and sometimes even crude models with generic optical property parameters can provide useful semiquantitative or qualitative measurements of microvascular oxygenation at the wound site. The utility of NIR spectroscopy and in particular imaging is being explored to determine peripheral vascular perfusion, [121][122][123][124][125] burn injury assessment, [126][127][128][129] as well as the assessment of oxygenation of superficial tissues during surgery, postsurgery, and during healing. [130][131][132][133][134][135][136] Figure 11 shows a tissue oxygenation image derived from a four-wavelength multispectral reflectance image of the planter portion of the foot that has a diabetic ulceration.…”