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1: Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 1990 Mar;72(2):99-100.Click here to read Links
Comment in:
Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 1990 Sep;72(5):345.

The incidence of congenitally absent foot pulses.

Robertson GS, Ristic CD, Bullen BR.

George Eliot Hospital, Nuneaton.

The pedal pulses of 547 young healthy subjects were examined using digital palpation and a Doppler probe to determine the incidence of congenitally absent foot pulses. The posterior tibial (PT) pulse was absent in only one subject (0.18%), while the dorsalis pedis (DP) pulse was bilaterally absent in nine subjects (1.8%) and unilaterally absent in a further six subjects. The low incidence of congenital absence makes the clinical finding of an absent pedal pulse in later life a more significant marker of peripheral vascular disease than current surgical texts would have us believe.

PMID: 2185683 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

PMCID: PMC2499134