A comparison of some methods of diagnosing Raynaud phenomena of occupational origin

Abstract

Hellstr⊘m, B., and Myhre, K. (1971).Brit. J. industr. Med.,28, 272-279. A comparison of some methods of diagnosing Raynaud phenomena of occupational origin. The aim of the present study was to compare some field methods of diagnosing traumatic vasospastic disease (TVD). Eleven forest workers with TVD (Raynaud phenomena of occupational origin) from the use of chain saws and seven controls underwent various exposures to cold. Sitting naked at 10 to 12°C for 40 minutes and exposing the hands to water of 13 to 16°C during the last 20 minutes provoked blanching of the fingers of all subjects in the TVD group and in none of the controls. These group differences were only partially supported by skin temperature recordings. Finger cooling during general cold exposure, rewarming after local cold exposures that did not provoke blanching, cold-induced vasodilatation, and rewarming after local vibration in cool water did not differ significantly between the groups. The production of attacks was apparently facilitated by hand grip in the cold. The results underline the diagnostic uncertainties present in those approaches which do not provoke attacks of finger blanching. Such attacks are most easily produced by a combined general and local cold exposure.