title: The influence of the hand circulation on the assessment of venous distensibility of the human forearm with venous occlusion plethysmography.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the influence of the hand circulation on the determination of venous distensibility with venous occlusion plethysmography.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a randomised study, duplicate measurements of forearm venous distensibility, with and without a wrist cuff, were made over occlusion periods of 3 and 12 min in eight volunteers. Treatments were compared with paired Student's t-tests and differences are presented as 95% confidence intervals (CI). Intra-subject variability was assessed with analysis of variance.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Non-significant differences in increases in forearm volume between the occlusions with and without wrist cuff were found for the 3 min occlusion (CI: -0.4, + 0.2%) and the 12 min occlusion period (CI: -0.7, + 0.2%). However, the coefficient of variation was lower with the use of a wrist cuff; after 3 min occlusion (12% vs 19%) and after 12 min of occlusion (14% vs 24%). Forearm volume after 12 min of venous occlusion was 0.5% (CI: + 0.4, + 0.7) higher than after 3 min.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although venous distensibility was equal when assessed with and without wrist cuff, exclusion of the hand circulation reduces intraindividual variability. Equilibrium in forearm volume is not reached after 3 min period of venous occlusion, as often assumed. The magnitude of the additional increase after prolonged occlusion stresses the need for well-controlled studies.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Human Drug Research, Zernikedreef 10, 2333 CL Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Burggraaf
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kemme
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Muller
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Schoemaker
authors.forename: A F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001775:Blood Circulation; D005542:Forearm / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000502:physiology; D006225:Hand / Q000098:blood supply*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010991:Plethysmography; D018924:Vascular Capacitance / Q000502:physiology*; D014680:Veins / Q000502:physiology*