Abstract

Objective: This work aims to study the functional state of resistive skin microvessels in patients with newly diagnosed arterial hypertension (AH), using portable laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) devices.

Materials and methods: The study included 89 men aged 30 to 60 years (44.4 ± 8.5) who had no known medical complaints, subjectively considered themselves healthy, and did not take medications on a regular basis. All the men underwent LDF on the left forearm, daily blood pressure (BP) monitoring (DBPM) on the left arm, echocardiography, and laboratory tests. According to DBPM data, the men were divided into two groups. The control group (CG) consisted of 30 men with normal BP, and 59 men were included in the AH group.

Results: According to LDF data, in men with AH, there is a decrease in the amplitude (tone increase) of neurogenic and myogenic vasomotion, a decrease in the amplitude of pulse oscillations of microcirculatory flow, a decrease in perfusion efficiency of endothelial, neurogenic, myogenic and pulse mechanisms of tissue perfusion regulation. Of all tone-forming mechanisms, only the myogenic mechanism has a weak negative correlation with systolic blood pressure level. The amplitude of pulse oscillations demonstrates the highest degree of correlation with blood pressure parameters.

Conclusion: The functional disorders of vasomotor activity of resistive skin microvessels revealed in men with AH have minor correlations with the level of blood pressure. Despite this, the use of portable devices for remote LDF may be a useful method for the dynamic monitoring of patients with hypertension, which requires further research.