Abstract
Six patients with primary Raynaud's disease were investigated with magnification hand arteriography, measurement of finger systolic pressure and response to a newly devised local cooling test. They were treated with reserpine 0.5 mg injected into the brachial artery, and the clinical effects were followed by a scoring system and by the change in digital arterial tone during local cooling. The latter was registered as the change in systolic finger blood pressure measured indirectly by a finger-plethysmograph during stepwise decrease in finger temperature, until at a critical temperature complete closure of the digital arteries occurred. Shortly after injection the clinical condition improved, and closure of the digital arteries during local cooling was impeded. But within a week the cooling test showed a transient deterioration with closure of the digital arteries at the same or a somewhat higher temperature than before the reserpine injection. The clinical score followed this trend. According to animal experiments the shortlasting vascular effect of reserpine on primary Raynaud's disease might be due to depletion of the sympathetic nerve terminals for norepinephrine.
Full text
PDF
Images in this article
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Coffman J. D., Davies W. T. Vasospastic diseases: a review. Prog Cardiovasc Dis. 1975 Sep-Oct;18(2):123–146. doi: 10.1016/0033-0620(75)90002-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Hirai M., Nielsen S. L., Lassen N. A. Blood pressure measurement of all five fingers by strain gauge plethysmography. Scand J Clin Lab Invest. 1976 Nov;36(7):627–632. doi: 10.1080/00365517609054487. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- McFadyen I. J., Housley E., MacPherson A. I. Intraarterial reserpine administration in Raynaud syndrome. Arch Intern Med. 1973 Oct;132(4):526–528. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Owman C., Sjöberg N. O. Difference in rate of depletion and recovery of noradrenaline in "short" and "long" sympathetic nerves after reserpine treatment. Life Sci. 1967 Dec 1;6(23):2549–2556. doi: 10.1016/0024-3205(67)90320-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Porter J. M., Snider R. L., Bardana E. J., Rösch J., Eidemiller L. R. The diagnosis and treatment of Raynaud's phenomenon. Surgery. 1975 Jan;77(1):11–23. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Romeo S. G., Whalen R. E., Tindall J. P. Intra-arterial administration of reserpine. Its use in patients with Raynaud's disease or Raynaud's phenomenon. Arch Intern Med. 1970 May;125(5):825–829. doi: 10.1001/archinte.125.5.825. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Willerson J. T., Thompson R. H., Hookman P., Herdt J., Decker J. L. Reserpine in Raynaud's disease and phenomenon. Short-term response to intra-arterial injection. Ann Intern Med. 1970 Jan;72(1):17–27. doi: 10.7326/0003-4819-72-1-17. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]