Tumour necrosis factor alpha as a predictor of impaired peak leg blood flow in patients with chronic heart failure

摘要

Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TFα) is increased in patients withcardiac cachexia, a condition associ- ated with reduced peripheralblood flow both at rest and after interventions causing vasodilation.By contrast, in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), higher TNFlevels are associated with a greater capacity for vasodilation in thearm. To clarify the relationship between peripheral blood flow andTNF in CHF, we studied the relation between TNFα and blood flow inthe leg (plethys- mography, post maximal exercise and 5 min isch-aemia) in 34 patients (age 63±2 years, ejection fraction 29±3/100,peak VO_2 16.6±1.1 ml/kg/min, mean±SEM).