[Hemodynamic research and physiopathologic remarks on "vibration angiopathy" with Raynaud's phenomenon (author's...

A hemodynamic research was carried out by the authors in ten patients affected with upper limb "vibration angiopathy", as well as in ten healthy control subjects. Digital artery flow and systolic, diastolic and mean pressures were measured, and vascular resistances and the so-called "systolic index" calculated, both in basal condition and following hand warming. In patients with "vibration angiopathy" fingers were examined, which on a previous arteriographic study showed the most and the least severe arterial lesions, respectively. No statistically significant differences were detected between the mean values of the hemodynamic indices obtained from the most and the least involved fingers, respectively, as well as between such values and the control subject ones. These results would suggest--even with due reservation on account of the relatively small number of cases and of their different features--that digital artery lesions, as shown by arteriography, have no definite hemodynamic significance. The lack of a statistically significant decrease of the digital artery mean pressure, compared to control subjects, supports the hypothesis that Raynaud's phenomenon in "vibration angiopathy" is not due to a transmural pressure fall. Finally, the lack of correlation between the severity of arterial lesions and Raynaud's phenomenon site suggests that the vasomotion impairment which causes the phenomenon is not related to such lesions.