The relationship between digital and ocular vasospasm

Abstract

The study evaluates whether ocular vasospasms, as determined by visual field tests, are related to a patient history of cold hands and to microscopic findings of the nailfold capillaries. The visual fields of patients with ocular vasospasms may deteriorate after exposing one hand to cold water and may improve after administration of nifedipine. Local cooling of the fingers of patients with vasospastic tendencies results in a significant reduction of capillary blood flow, typically down to a standstill of several seconds. The study reveals a statistically significant relationship between a patient history of cold hands and both the outcome of the perimetric and capillaroscopic tests. Furthermore, the perimetric results correlated significantly with the capillaroscopic results.