Effects of Episodic Air Hammer Usage on Digital Artery Hemodynamics of Foundry Workers with Vibration White Finger Disease

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Abstract
Blood flow was measured in the proper radial digital arteries of 20 subjects, 11 of whom were experienced pneumatic chipping hammer operators with varying degrees of vibration white finger (VWF). Flow was measured noninvasively and transcutaneously using a 20-MHz pulsed ultrasonic Doppler velocimeter (PUDVM), both in the resting state and after performing a supervised 20-minute chipping sequence. Approximately equivalent pre-chipping flow rates were present in six chippers with severe VWF, in the remaining five chippers without severe VWV, and in nine age-matched chipping novices. However, the digital artery flow rates of the severe VWF group increased substantially (to about three times the resting level) after the chipping episode, whereas the flow rates of the novices and the no-VWF chippers did not change appreciably. The VWF blood flow increases were accompanied by an 11% heart rate increase, by a 60% increase in lumen cross-sectional area at the PUDVM scan site, and by a very substantial reduction in downstream resistance (a 90% increase in temporospatial mean velocity).