Persistence of Abnormally High Vascular Tone in Vessels of the Finger after Digital Nerve Block in Patients with Chronic High Blood Pressure

Abstract

The critical opening pressure of vessels supplying the nailfold capillaries of the finger was estimated as an index of the force being exerted by vascular smooth muscle in normal subjects and patients with various kinds of hypertension after the digital nerves were blocked. It was greater in the hypertensive patients, suggesting the existence of an abnormally high force being exerted by the smooth muscle in hypertensive patients which is not under the immediate control of the nervous system.