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A Portable Heat-Exchange-Based System for Assessing Digital Vascular Response to Cold
Carlotta Massotti1, Paolo Bertoli2, Marcella Mauro2
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan, Italy.
La Medicina Del Lavoro
|August 3, 2026
Summary
A new portable system accurately measures fingertip thermal power (TP) and finger blood flow (FBF) response to cold. This validated method offers a practical tool for occupational health surveillance of digital vascular function.
Area of Science:
- Occupational medicine
- Vascular physiology
- Biomedical engineering
Background:
- Digital vascular assessment is crucial in occupational medicine.
- Current measurement methods are often complex and lack portability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To validate a portable, heat-exchange-based system for assessing cold-induced digital vascular response.
- To compare the system's measurements with strain-gauge plethysmography, a reference method.
Main Methods:
- Twenty healthy volunteers (10 male, 10 female) participated in five sessions.
- Finger blood flow (FBF) was measured using strain-gauge plethysmography.
- Fingertip thermal power (TP) was recorded using a portable thermoflowmeter during baseline, contact force, and local cooling (10 °C) conditions.
Main Results:
- Local cooling significantly reduced FBF (p<0.0001).
- TP was significantly associated with FBF during cooling (p<0.0001), showing lower variability than FBF (wsCV ≈0.19 vs ≈0.64).
- Body mass index (BMI) positively correlated with TP (p=0.007).
Conclusions:
- Fingertip thermal power (TP) is a valid perfusion-related thermal descriptor.
- The portable system shows potential for occupational health surveillance of digital vascular function.
- Further validation in individuals with digital vascular disorders is recommended.
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