A METHOD FOR MEASURING VENOUS TONE IN DIGITAL VEINS OF INTACT MAN

Abstract

It HAS been suggested that the tone of the veins is increased in chronic congestive heart failure,* but, because the evidence has been indirect and unconvincing, the concept has not been fully accepted.† Some of the data reported ‡ may be interpreted to support an increase in venous tone. Because the neck veins are distended in patients suffering with congestive heart failure, the blood volume is considered by many to be increased and venous tone to be decreased. That this is not necessarily true has been indicated by previous studies,§ as well as by the observation that blood volume may be only slightly to moderately increased, if at all, in congestive heart failure.∥ Thus, it is desirable to study venous tone in congestive heart failure further. A venous occlusive pneumoplethysmographic method has recently been developed in this laboratory that permits simultaneous measurements of the continuous curves of the time courses