Roustit M et al. – A loss of correlation between brachial flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and digital cutaneous post-occlusive reactive hyperemia (PORH) in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and primary Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) was observed. Microvascular function was impaired in SSc, whereas brachial artery endothelial function was normal. Methods
Aim was to compare and correlate simultaneously measured skin microvascular and brachial artery macrovascular post-occlusive hyperemia in 3 groups: pts with SSc, with primary RP, and healthy volunteers
33 healthy volunteers, 36 pts with primary RP, and 42 pts with SSc were enrolled
For each subject, brachial artery FMD and cutaneous PORH were simultaneously recorded after 5-min occlusion of the brachial artery
Local thermal hyperemia, nitroglycerin-mediated dilation (NMD), intima-media thickness (IMT), and pulse wave velocity (PWV) were also assessed
Results
Digital cutaneous peak PORH was altered in pts with primary RP and SSc vs healthy controls
FMD was not significantly different among all groups
A correlation between digital peak cutaneous vascular conductance and brachial FMD in healthy controls, but not in pts with primary RP or SSc
Thermal hyperemia was altered only in pts with SSc
Brachial NMD, IMT, and PWV were not different among all groups
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