Cold stimulus-fingertip lacticemy: standardization of the test in normal volunteers and diagnostic application for systemic sclerosis.

Objectives: To standardize the cold stimulus-fingertip lacticemy test (CS-FTL) in normal individuals and to establish reference levels for discrimination of normal individuals and patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc).

Methods: FTL was determined before (pre-CS) and 3, 8, and 13 min after cold stimulus (post-CS) in 94 normal controls according to gender and age. Diagnostic performance of DeltaCS-FTL (percentage difference between post- and pre-CS-FTL) was tested comparing 25 SSc patients and the 94 normal individuals by ROC curve analysis.

Determination of fingertip lacticemy before and after cold stimulus in patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon and systemic sclerosis.

Objective: Establishing a cold stimulus test based on the measurement of finger tip lacticemy (FTL) in Raynaud's phenomenon (RP).

Methods: Twenty-seven controls and 79 patients with RP [30 systemic sclerosis (SSc) and 49 isolated RP] were studied. The latter were further classified into probable primary RP (PPRP) and probable secondary RP (PSRP).