Role of Colour Doppler in Evaluation of Peripheral Arterial Diseases of Lower Limb Assuming CT Angiography as Gold Standard

Background- Peripheral arterial diseases (PAD) is an atherosclerotic occlusive condition which causes intermittent claudication and rest pain mainly in elderly males. The main aim is to identify the role of colour doppler in lower limb peripheral arterial disease. Material and Methods: A prospective study was conducted on 80 patients having clinical suspicion of PAD undergoing CDUS followed by CTA. A comparative analysis of arterial system was done by both gray scale and color spectrum doppler analysis on CDUS as well as by CTA for colour flow, % stenosis, length of involved segment, collateral flow, thrombus, plaque and wall calcification using chi square test. Results and discussion: Out of 640 arterial segments studied on both CTA and CDUS in our study, CTA picked up abnormality in 370 segments (57.85 %) whereas colour Doppler was positive in 400 segments (62.5 %). CDUS detected less than50 % stenosis in 220 arterial segments, 50-75 % stenosis in 50 arterial segments, 75-99 % stenosis in 10 arterial segments and occlusion (100 % stenosis) in 90 arterial segments. Doppler overestimated the stenosis by 1 grade in 46 arterial segments and 2 grades in 2 arterial segment. Doppler underestimated the stenosis by 1 grade in 52 arterial segments. The overall sensitivity and specificity of CDUS compared to CTA in femoro popliteal segments was found to be 92.25 % and 88.04 % respectively. Overall PPV and NPV was 91 % and 89.6 % respectively. Conclusion: CDUS favour‘s to be the 1st line investigation for evaluation of PADs followed by CT before planning any interventional treatment especially in femoropopliteal segments, low grade stenosis and eccentric stenosis.