Adding Doppler ultrasonography to the follow-up of patients with vasospastic disorder improves objectivity.

BACKGROUND: Assessing therapeutic efficacy and patient satisfaction objectively and quantitatively has always been a problem in patients with vasospastic disorders. We aimed to present the additive value of ultrasonographic assessment of peripheral arteries secondary to cold stimulation, as a test for treatment efficacy during follow-up. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Arterial blood flow rates were measured from radial artery with Doppler USG in patients who presented to our department with vasospastic disorders. Ultrasonography was performed at the following intervals; before cold stimulation and at 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th minutes of cold stimulation. Patients were controlled by repeat cold stimulation test and Doppler US at the 2nd month of the treatment. Results were analyzed with SPSS for Mac 20.0 package program. RESULTS: We enrolled 46 patients in the study. All patients were male and mean age was 22.3 ± 2.17 years. Most common symptoms were cyanosis and coldness. There were statistically significant differences between pre-treatment and post-treatment arterial blood flow rates at each measurement time point (p<0.001) except initial measurement (p>0.05). On post-treatment values, there were 10.04±0.78 cm/s increase in 5th minute, 6.25 ± 1.39 cm/s in 10th minute, 6.43 ± 2.13 cm/s in 15th minute, and 6.38 ± 1.86 cm/s in 20th minute measurements. All increases at the 5 time points were statistically meaningful when compared to their pre-treatment corresponding time points (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Doppler flowmetry added to standard cold stimulation test for evaluating the patients with vasospastic disorders provides better and more objective results when compared to the patient-oriented subjective scoring systems.