Segmental Pulse Volume Recordings at the Forefoot Level as a Valuable Diagnostic Tool for Detection of Peripheral Arterial Disease in the Diabetic Foot Syndrome

Introduction: Evidence for the diagnostic yield of noninvasive diagnostic assessment for the diagnosis of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in diabetic foot syndrome (DFS) is poor. Pulse volume recordings (PVRs) at the forefoot level could be a valuable diagnostic tool in the presence of medial arterial calcification. Patients and methods: Patients with DFS who underwent invasive angiography between 01/2020 and 11/2024 and had corresponding PVRs performed within 30 days prior to the procedure were included. DFS was classified according to the Wagner–Armstrong classification. Clinical characteristics and hemodynamic parameters, including systolic ankle pressures and ankle–brachial index were recorded. PVRs were analyzed semiquantitatively by investigators blinded to the clinical information and quantitatively with determination of upstroke time (UST), upstroke ratio (USR), and maximum systolic amplitude (MSA). Angiographic PAD severity was graded according to the GLASS classification. Statistical analysis included univariate significance tests, 2 × 2 contingency tables, receiver–operator characteristic (ROC) analysis and determination of interobserver agreement. Results: In this study, 90 extremities of 70 patients were analyzed, 47 of whom had an ABI ≥ 1.3. Critical limb-threatening ischemia with non-pulsatile PVRs was evident in 6.7%. An abnormal PVR curve morphology (mildly or severely abnormal) yielded a sensitivity and specificity of 63.3% and 85.7% for detection of severe PAD (GLASS stages 2 and 3). Interobserver agreement of semiquantitative PVR rating was substantial (Cohen’s kappa 0.8) in 51 evaluated cases. For detection of any PAD (GLASS ≥ 1) or severe PAD (GLASS ≥ 2), we found the highest diagnostic accuracy for MSA (area under the curve [AUC] 0.89 and 0.82). With a cut-off value of 0.58 mmHg, MSA had a sensitivity of 91.4% and a specificity of 80.8% for detection of any PAD (GLASS ≥ 1). MSA with a cut-off of 0.27 mmHg had a sensitivity of 72.2% and a specificity of 77.1% for detection of severe PAD, whereas the sensitivity and specificity for detection of inframalleolar disease were 62.9% and 69.4%, respectively. Results were consistent in subgroup analyses. Conclusions: PVRs with extraction of quantitative features offer promising diagnostic yield for detection of PAD in the setting of DFS. MSA outperformed UST and USR but showed limited capability of detecting impaired inframalleolar outflow.