Digital blood pressure after local cooling as a diagnostic tool in traumatic vasospastic disease.

Measurement of digital blood pressure before and after local cooling was performed in 10 men with traumatic vasospastic disease (TVD), 10 men who worked with vibrating tools but had no symptoms in arms or hands, and 10 men who had never worked with vibrating tools. The reduction in finger systolic pressure was significantly larger in the group with TVD than in either of the reference groups (p less than 0.001). There was no difference between the two reference groups. Nine of the 10 patients with TVD had a larger reduction in their finger systolic pressure after local cooling than anyone in either control group. The effects of two different room temperatures (17 degrees C and 23 degrees C) were evaluated. At the higher temperature the overlap between patients with TVD and controls was greater. The method described seems a feasible way to obtain an objective verification of TVD.