Measurement of Vascular Corticosteroid Effect in Human using Laser Doppler Flowmeter

Lee, Ho Gyun; Choi, Sung Woo; Eun, Hee Chul

Abstract

Vasoconstrictive effect of several topicsl corticosteroids was measured using laser Doppler flowmeter. Hydrophilic ointment base, 1% hydrocortisone cream, 0.1% clocortolone pivalate cream, and 0.25% desoxymethasone cream were applied on both forearms of 20 volunteers. To augment the vasoconstrictive effect of the corticosteroids, We had cut off the blood flow to forearms for 4 minutes by tourniquet. The reactive hyperemia was measured by laser Doppler flowmeter and the ares under the curve were calculated by digitizer aided by a computer. The mean areas of esch drugs were in the following order : hydrophilic ointment base, 0.1% clocortolone pivalate cream, 1% hydrocortisone crearn and 0.25% desoxymethasone cream. However, the standard deviations were too large for the difference to be statistically significant. We concluded that laser Doppler flowmeter is not suitable for the measurement of vasoconstrictive effect of corticosteroid.