OBJECTIVE: To investigate in vivo the function of the microcirculation of the skin in pregnancy and pregnancy complicated with @entity1468 . DESIGN: Case-control study. SETTING: Academic Medical Centre. @entity1 : A group of 10 @entity1 with @entity1468 and a healthy control group of 10 pregnant @entity1 . METHODS: The microcirculation of the skin of the finger at rest and during @entity432 was studied with laser Doppler fluxmetry and orthogonal polarisation spectral imaging. By inflating a cuff around the upper arm to a pressure of 50 mmHg, causing @entity432 , the local sympathetic veno-arteriolar reflex was provoked. With laser Doppler fluxmetry the blood flow of the skin at a depth of 1-2mm was measured at rest and during @entity432 . Orthogonal polarisation spectral imaging was used to assess red blood cell velocity at rest and during @entity432 of the nutritive capillaries of the skin. RESULTS: Laser Doppler fluxmetry showed no significant difference between the normotensive group and the group with @entity1468 . Using orthogonal polarisation spectral imaging, @entity432 produced a significantly greater decrease in red blood cell velocity in the control group than in the @entity1 with @entity1468 : (84% (81-88)(median and interquartile range) vs 58% (45-88), P = 0.0029). No differences in absolute red blood cell velocities were observed between groups either at rest or during @entity432 . CONCLUSION: This study shows an impaired local veno-arteriolar reflex in @entity1468 at the nutritive, but not at the therrmoregulatory, level of the microcirculation of the skin.

Impaired vascular function in XXXX with @entity1468 observed with orthogonal polarisation spectral imaging.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['PARTICIPANTS', 'women'] @entity1468 :: ('MESH:D011225', 'Disease') :: ['pre-eclampsia'] @entity432 :: ('MESH:D001157', 'Disease') :: ['venous occlusion']
@entity1 :: (9606,Species) :: ['women']
