Supervised exercise training in peripheral arterial disease increases vascular shear stress and profunda femoral artery diameter

Arteriogenesis is promoted by flow- and pressure-related forces such as tangential wall stress and laminar shear stress. Exercise training (ET) is known to promote arteriogenesis in peripheral arterial disease (PAD) patients. It remains unclear whether supervised ET (SET) promotes arteriogenesis more efficiently than non-SET (nSET).

Forty PAD patients participated in a SET or nSET training programme (n = 20 each) and were compared to 20 healthy individuals without any history of cardiovascular events. Femoral artery diameter, flow and velocity were measured by ultrasound. Tangential wall stress and laminar shear stress were calculated for femoral arteries. Follow-up was performed after a mean of 7.65 ± 1.62 months. At follow-up, only the SET group showed a significant increase in lumen diameter of the profunda femoral artery (p = 0.03), accompanied by an increase of tangential wall stress (p = 0.002). Laminar shear stress decreased, but remained higher for the SET group compared to controls (p < 0.01). Individual changes in walking distance were higher for SET patients (p = 0.01) than nSET patients (p = 0.07). Profunda femoral lumen diameter and tangential wall stress correlated directly with walking distance (r = 0.446; p < 0.001), as well as with each other (r = 0.743; p < 0.0001).

Our results indicate that SET promotes arteriogenesis more efficiently than nSET. Femoral lumen diameter and flow might help with the monitoring of ET efficiency and potential arteriogenesis.