MATERIAL AND METHOD
The study steps were designed according to the Declaration of Helsinki
and ethical approval was obtained from the Local Ethics Committee of the
University. The signed informed consent was obtained from all
participants. This study was designed as a prospective, case-control
study.
Patients over 50 years of age (because of increased risk of
atherosclerotic occlusive arterial diseases), with past medical history
with trauma, thoracic outlet syndrome, secondary RP (malignity,
vasculitis, systemic inflammatory disease, auto-immune diseases, etc.),
anti-inflammatory or corticosteroid usage history, and patients with
accompanying diabetes, hypertension, familial hyperlipidemia were
excluded from the study.
After exclusion of secondary RP, a total of 43 patients was included in
the study who admitted to the cardiovascular surgery clinic with RP
symptoms (bruising and cold hands/f provoked by cold) and diagnosed as
primary RP (Figure 1). The control group was formed from healthy
individuals who admitted to the hospital for a routine checkup without
cardiovascular symptoms.