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Session: Poster session I
Session starts: Thursday 24 January, 15:00

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Yusang Wu ()
Mariska Nieuwenhoff ()
Frank Huygen ()
Frans van der Helm ()
Alfred Schouten ()
Sjoerd Niehof ()

Abstract:
Background: Small fiber neuropathy (SFN) is a peripheral nerve disease that preferentially or selectively affects small nerve fibers and their functions. Diabetes is known as one of the major causes of SFN. Patients with SFN suffer from a combination of symptoms, including pain, numbness and vascular dysfunction. Early diagnosis of SFN and thus early treatment are crucial to prevent the development and progress of SFN, and to reduce medial costs and usage of healthcare resources. Today, however, no good test or tool is available to identify SFN in an early stage. Our project aims to develop a novel method using non-contact heat stimuli and video thermography to assess small nerve fiber function and as such to realize quantitative and non-invasive diagnosis of SFN in an early stage. In this study, the application of the method was demonstrated in healthy subjects. Method: Eight Caucasian female subjects participated in the study (20-30 years old). The dorsal side of the subjects’ hands was heated up to 42 ℃ with a medical infrared lamp. The thermal response of the skin in the cooling phase was evaluated based on two signals: (1) the skin temperature, measured with a video thermography camera and (2) the skin blood perfusion, measured with a laser Doppler flowmetry at the center of the dorsal side of hands. Results: After the heating the skin blood perfusion declined, and reached a steady level when the skin temperature was approximately 38 ℃. The skin temperature declined exponentially indicating a first-order process. The estimated first-order process time constant was related to the skin blood perfusion and ranged between 50 and 80 s in most measurements. Conclusion: Recent studies reported that thermally sensitive small fibers in the skin were important in the vasodilation response to local skin warming [1]. In our study, the comparison between the skin temperature and the skin blood perfusion demonstrated the control mechanism of small fibers. The analysis of the video thermography provided a comprehensive description of the skin blood perfusion on the dorsal side of hands. Next studies will be carried out in patients with SFN who are supposed to have a delayed/attenuated response to thermal stimuli. Reference [1] J. Johnson and D. Kellogg, “Local thermal control of the human cutaneous circulation”, Journal of Applied Physiology, Vol. 109, pp. 1229-1238, 2010