Effect of Carbon Dioxide on Acrocyanosis in Schizophrenia

THE OCCURRENCE of cool blue hands in many patients with schizophrenia is well recognized. According to Olkon,¹cutaneous capillary microscopy over the finger nail fold during life in such instances reveals a decrease in the number of visible capillaries. The capillaries appear pale, bizarrely formed and, in places, irregularly dilated; blood flow through them is irregular and slow. However, the previous work of Schrijver-Hertzberger²and the large number of earlier studies discussed in Suckow's³exhaustive review strongly suggest that changes such as these are not constantly found in patients with schizophrenia and are not specific to that disease. A number of authors⁴have also found evidence of stasis in blood drawn from the antecubital vein of schizophrenic patients, and Abramson and associates⁵concluded from plethysmographic measurements that the peripheral blood flow is often low in the hands but not in other parts of the extremities