title: Differential short-term repeated forearm hyperaemic reactivity in coronary artery disease patients compared to healthy low risk participants.
abstract: The hyperaemic response of the forearm is a widely used technique to assess the vascular reactivity. Little is known about the short-term reproducibility and the possible exhaustion of this response in normal or diseased states. As such, the current study was conducted to assess this phenomenon using a unique nuclear medicine- (NM-) based technique. 19 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) undergoing NM exercise stress tests and 15 low risk (LR) participants completed 2 reactive hyperaemia tests, using a SPECT-based technique, separated by 15  min. Analyses revealed that CAD patients had lower hyperaemic responses than LR participants (P < .001), and that there was a significant group × time interaction (P < .005), such that LR participants showed a larger decrease in the reactivity (5.2 ± 0.4 to 3.6 ± 0.4) than the CAD patients (2.9 ± 0.3 to 2.6 ± 0.3). These results suggest that there is a variability, due to disease states, in the reproducibility of the hypaeremic reactivity. This needs to be taken into account in short-term repeated measure studies.
authors.affiliation: Montreal Behavioural Medicine Centre, Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal, A University of Montreal Affiliated Hospital, 5400 Gouin O., Montréal, QC, Canada H4J 1C5 ; Montreal Heart Institute, A University of Montreal Affiliated Hospital, 5000 Bélanger East, Montréal, QC, Canada H1T 1C8 ; Department of Exercise Science, Concordia University, 7141 Sherbrooke St West, Montréal, QC, Canada H4B 1R6 ; Research Centre, Hôpital du Sacré-Cœur de Montréal, A University of Montreal Affiliated Hospital, 5400 Gouin O., Montréal, QC, Canada H4J 1C5.
authors.forename: Simon L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Bacon
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Meloche
authors.forename: Kim L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Lavoie
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arsenault