Determination of Pneumatic Tourniquet Pressure of Lower Limb by Ultrasonic Doppler.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical effect of tourniquet inflation pressure setting by ultrasonic Doppler on lower limb operation.

METHODS: Ninety-six patients with total knee arthroplasty were selected in this study from January 2015 to December 2015. The patients were randomly divided into the study group and the control group with 48 cases in each group. In the control group, the tourniquet pressure is determined by the doctor's request for the patient's condition, but all the tourniquet pressure values should be 80 KPa or less. In the study group, ultrasonic Doppler was used to monitor the popliteal artery blood flow of surgery limb with the maximum systolic velocity in artery as a reference value. The pressure of pneumatic tourniquet gradually increased until the maximum systolic velocity was reduced to 0. At this time, the popliteal artery blood flow was not present. The 2 groups of patients with lower extremity tourniquet pressure, hemostatic effect of intraoperative tourniquet, and the incidence of adverse reaction using tourniquets were observed and recorded.

RESULTS: In the study group, the lower extremity tourniquet pressure and the incidence of adverse reaction using tourniquets were all better than that in control group; the difference between 2 groups was significant (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference between the 2 groups in the effect of hemostasis and the time of tourniquet operation (P > 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: The method of ultrasonic Doppler setting lower extremity tourniquet pressure during the operation could not only ensure the hemostatic effect, but it could also provide the optimum individual pneumatic tourniquet pressure value for patients. In the meanwhile, it could reduce the incidence of adverse reaction using tourniquets effectively as well as improve the safety of the tourniquet. This method played an important role in the recovery of patients.