Accuracy Evaluation of Noninvasive Technology to Analyze Lower Extremity Arteries and Blood Flow

Purpose: Peripheral artery disease (PAD) continues to be underdiagnosed and thereby untreated early in its progression, leading to unnecessary health care costs and, more crucially, unnecessary amputations. The early identification of this chronic condition enables patients to have access to a wider range of lower cost and lower risk therapies that can improve patient outcomes and save lives. The most traditional point-of-care testing requires the administration of a 15- to 30-minute test, specialized testing equipment, and time in already stretched clinical workflows. The purpose of this investigation was to analyze the efficiency of a new tool titled PADnet Xpress (Biomedix) in diagnosing PAD.

Materials and Methods: Sixty-one MIMIT Health patients with typical and atypical PAD symptoms were screened for PAD using PADnet Xpress to examine the efficacy of this tool. Fifty-five were white, 3 were Asian, and 3 were Latino. Forty-four of those tested were female, and 17 were male, and the median age of residents tested was 82 years. PADnet Xpress supports bilateral, noninvasive physiologic studies by assessing the posterior tibial and anterior tibial dorsalis pedis arterial distributions using volume plethysmography. The results are captured in tracings documenting the morphology of the recorded waveforms that indicate whether PAD is present.

Results: Although only 5 of the 61 participants had a previous PAD diagnosis in their charts, 47 (77%) were identified as having PAD as a result of this initiative. Of those with abnormal study findings, 81% had mild disease, 15% had moderate disease, and 4% had severe PAD. Of the 56 patients without a previous PAD diagnosis in their charts, 77% had an abnormal PAD test result.

Conclusions: This investigation showcased the efficacy of using PADnet Xpress as a diagnostic tool for identifying PAD in nonsymptomatic patients. Its low-cost, time-saving approach to diagnosing PAD has the potential to be adopted in primary care practices within regular check-ups. This innovative approach enables community-based collaborative care to optimize patient outcomes.