ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Cold-stress test is used for the objective diagnosis of Raynaud's disease and phenomenon, and the value of such test based on detection of recovery time of finger skin temperature, finger systolic blood pressure and finger color. We evaluate the finger skin temperature of recovery time after cold-stress test for Raynaud's disease and nonspecific cold sensitive patients. METHODS: Thirty-six subjects participated in the study: 9 Raynaud's disease (group 1), 13 nonspecific cold-sensitive patients (group 2) and 14 healthy adults (group 3). Subjects were adapted for 10 min in the test room, temperature 22-24degrees C, prior to measurements. Thermistor probe were attached to tips of both middle phalanges. After recording the baseline temperature, both hands were immersed to the level of the wrist in water controlled at 4degrees C. After 1 min immersion, both hands were removed from the water, recording the skin temperature at 5 min interval. RESULTS: Group 1 had the two types of recovery pattern. One; group 1 (-) was delayed recovery and the other; group 1 (+) was early recovery and hyperemic response. Group 2 showed delayed recovery. Recovery time to preimmersion temperature in group 3 were 20 min. CONCLUSIONS: Unlike results of prior report, some of Raynaud's disease (44%) with typical tricolor change had early recovery and hyperemic response after cold stress test in our study. It is suggested that Raynaud's disease has a different pathophysiology from nonspecific cold-sensitive patients. And appropriate check time is 20 min after cold immersion for the evaluation of vascular dysfunction of cold sensitive patients.