Capillary microscopy in patients with vasospastic and arterial occlusive diseases.

Capillary microscopy and its application for diagnosis and therapeutic evaluation in patients with vasospastic and arterial occlusive disease are described in this report. Capillary microscopy is a noninvasive technique for measuring red blood cell velocity and for determining nutritional blood flow in the capillaries of the skin. This method can be applied in distinguishing patients with Raynaud's phenomenon from those with other disorders involving ischemia of the hand. In patients with atherosclerotic disease of the lower limb, microcirculatory observations can help determine how temperature increases and posturally induced microvascular constriction affect limbs with different degrees of ischemia. Capillary microscopy can also be used to help distinguish between patients who respond and those who do not respond to prolonged treatment for such disorders. Because capillary microscopy can be used to assess microcirculatory hemodynamics and autoregulatory mechanisms in cases of severe ischemia, it should be regarded as an essential tool in the evaluation of patients with upper- and lower-limb ischemia.