Evaluation of Peripheral Muscle Oxygenation during Exercise by Spatially Resolved Spectroscopy in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Background : Spatially resolved (SR) spectroscopy has enabled non-invasive and continuous measurement of muscle oxygen saturation during exercise. In patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), skeletal muscle dysfunction has been widely studied histochemically and biochemically. However, impairment of muscle oxygenation during exercise has not been elucidated yet. / Methods : We measured oxygen saturation in the vastus lateralis muscle (SmO_2) using SR spectrometry during incremental cycle exercise in 16 COPD patients and 10 age-matched healthy subjects....