Abstract
I. Ten female patients with Raynaud’s phenomenon (eight, PSS; one, SLE, one suspected SLE) and ten healthy female controls were examined by thermography to evaluate the effects of nitroglycerin ointment (2%) on peripheral circulation. Before the local application and at 5, 10 and 20 minutes after the local application, thermograms of dorsal aspects of right hands were obtained. We then obtained the mean skin temperatures and histograms of the dorsal aspect of both the right hand and the middle finger. As for the results; 1) Skin temperatures elevated in the sequential thermograms in all twenty cases. 2) Mean skin temperatures after the application were significantly higher than those obtained before at all periods in hands and fingers of both groups. At ten minutes, the mean temperatures of the right middle fingers in the control group were significantly higher than in the patients group. 3) After the application, the histograms in patients tended to change from the type with two or more peaks to the type with one peak, which is commonly seen in a control group. II. Microulcers of the fingers and feet in six patients with Raynaud’s phenomenon (five, PSS; one, SLE) were treated with nitroglycerin ointment three times a day for about one month. The ulcers of four patients out of the six healed or became smaller. Experiments I and II revealed that nitroglycerin ointment has favorable effects for impaired peripheral circulation and may be suitable for various diseases based on peripheral circulatory disturbance.
