Temperature-associated vascular disorders: Raynaud’s phenomenon and erythromelalgia

Superficially, Raynaud's phenomenon, a disease associated with cold, and erythromelalgia, a warmth related disorder, could be considered the antithesis of each other. However, both these microcirculatory disorders, first described in the second half of the nineteenth century, have many features in common and, indeed, may share the same etiology, that is microvascular ischemia. The complicated structure that is the microcirculation can produce a variety of responses to a single noxious stimulus with sensations of cold and heat at opposite ends of the spectrum. In this chapter Raynaud's phenomenon and erythromelalgia -are compared and contrasted so that the correct diagnosis of 'these conditions and appropriate remedy can be selected by the clinician.