Total and Capillary Fingertip Blood Flow in Raynaud's Phenomenon

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Abstract
Total (plethysmography) and capillary (radioisotope disappearance rate) fingertip flows were measured in 24 patients with Raynaud's phenomenon and compared to 10 normal subjects in a warm room and during reflex sympathetic nerve stimulation by body cooling. Arteriovenous shunt flow was estimated by subtraction of capillary from total flow. Patients with Raynaud's phenomenon had a significantly smaller capillary flow in both warm (6.4 vs. 10 ml per 100 g per minute) and cool (4.0 vs. 7.0 ml) rooms than normal subjects. With body cooling, total and arteriovenous shunt flow, but not capillary flow, decreased significantly in normal controls, whereas all three decreased in Raynaud's phenomenon. During oral reserpine treatment, 11 patients with Raynaud's phenomenon showed a significantly larger capillary flow during warming (8.7 vs. 5.7 ml) and cooling (6.2 vs. 2.8 ml). Patients with Raynaud's phenomenon have a smaller finger nutritional (capillary) flow than normal subjects, and this flow decreases significantly during sympathetic stimulation; reserpine produces increased finger nutritional flow in these patients.

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