title: Preliminary study on the assessment of peripheral vascular response to cold provocation in workers exposed to hand-arm vibration using laser Doppler perfusion imager.
abstract: Measurements of changes in finger skin blood flow with laser Doppler perfusion imaging (LDPI) in response to cold provocation test (10 degrees C, 10 min) were performed in 12 men suffering from vibration induced white finger (VWF) and 13 exposed controls. The mean perfusion values in both groups reduced markedly as a result of immersion of the hand in cold water. In the controls, however, the mean value increased gradually until the end of the cold provocation, while that in the VWF subjects remained at the lowest level. After removal of the hand from the cold water, the skin blood perfusion in the controls recovered rapidly and nearly reached the baseline value. In the VWF subjects, it had a slight increase immediately following the cold immersion but no tendency to rise as the time span increased. Analysis of covariance controlling for possible confounders revealed that the VWF subjects had significantly lower perfusion values compared to the controls in the last several minutes of the cold provocation and the following recovery. These findings suggest that the LDPI technique enables visualizing and quantifying the peripheral vascular effects of cold water immersion on the finger skin blood perfusion and thus has the potential of providing more detailed and a&curate information that may help detect the peripheral circulatory impairment in the fingers of vibration-exposed workers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hygiene, School of Medicine, Wakayama Medical University, 811-1 Kimiidera, Wakayama 641-8509, Japan.
authors.forename: Nobuyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Miyai
authors.forename: Kazufumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Terada
authors.forename: Shunji
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sakaguchi
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Minami
authors.forename: Taro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tomura
authors.forename: Hiroichi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Kotaro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tomida
authors.forename: Kazuhisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miyashita
mesh_terms: D001132:Arm / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003080:Cold Temperature; D006225:Hand / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007101:Immersion; D007564:Japan; D017078:Laser-Doppler Flowmetry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008297:Male; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D014732:Vibration / Q000009:adverse effects*