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.