Vibration white finger and digital systolic pressure during cooling.
A cold provocation test (measurement of finger systolic pressure during combined body and local finger cooling) was performed on 111 male patients exposed to vibration and with a typical history of cold induced white finger. A new method of calculating the test result is described--namely, digital systolic blood pressure in the cooled test finger as a percentage of the systolic pressure in the arm (DP%). The conventional way of calculating the result, the systolic pressure in the cooled test finger as a percentage of the systolic pressure in the test finger when heated to 30 degrees C, corrected for changes in systemic pressure by the use of a reference finger (FSP%), requires the measurement of the systolic pressure in a reference finger. The two ways of calculating the test results give a similar sensitivity (74% for FSP%, 79% for DP% if all histories are regarded as true) but the new method does not require pressure measurements in a reference finger. This makes the test easier to perform and the result easier to understand.
D001794:Blood Pressure; D003080:Cold Temperature; D005385:Fingers / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008722:Methods; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D011928:Raynaud Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D012016:Reference Values; D014732:Vibration / Q000009:adverse effects*