[Evaluation of digital venous reactivity to cold by plethysmographic measurement of compliance to cold and hot. Application of the method to 80 patients with Raynaud's phenomena and 36 controls].

A method is described for measuring digital venous compliance to cold by venous occlusion plethysmography (Perivein-Janssen apparatus). Determinations are made firstly to heat during immersion of the hand at 45 degrees C and then to cold during its immersion at 11 degrees C. In each case compliance is measured directly from a curve derived from successive venous occlusions of 1 mm Hg up to 120 mm Hg and by a standardized rate of recording. For pressures between 30 and 80 mm Hg a tracing is obtained that is assimilable to a linear slope from which compliance is calculated from the ratio delta P/delta V expressed as percentage variation of volume per cm Hg. The method was applied to 36 control subjects (19 men and 17 women) and 80 cases of Raynaud's phenomenon. Comparison of findings showed a significantly more marked fall in compliance to cold between: the female and male control subjects (p less than 10(-2)) the group of men with Raynaud's syndrome and male control subjects (p less than 10(-3)), the group with Raynaud's syndrome and Raynaud's disease (p less than 0.05). The findings suggest a possible pathogenic role of venospasm from cold in the determination of the syncopal phase of Raynaud's phenomenon and with respect to its predominance in members of the female sex.