Pathogenesis of hyperadrenergic orthostatic hypotension : evidence of disordered venous innervation exclusively in the lower limbs

The pathogenesis of hyperadrenergic orthostatic hypotension was studied in eight patients. Correction of the abnormal orthostatic changes by an inflated pressure suit (MAST) confirmed previous evidence of excessive gravitational pooling of blood in the leg veins. Intravenous L-norepinephrine infusion raised diastolic blood pressure in the same relationship to the infusion-induced increments in plasma norepinephrine concentrations as in normal subjects, indicating normal arteriolar responses. Contractile responses of the veins to infused L-norepinephrine were measured with a linear variable differential transformer (LVDT). The venous responses of hand veins in the patients fell within the 95% confidence limits of the responses of normal hand veins, as did the responses of foot veins in the seven normal subjects. However, foot veins of the patients with hyperadrenergic orthostatic hypotension, and both hand and foot veins of patients with "diffuse" autonomic failure, were supersensitive to norepinephrine, as reflected by a steeper slope of the regression of log (norepinephrine infusion rate) on percentage reduction in venous distensibility, and a significantly lower ED50 (i.e., norepinephrine infusion rate that induced 50% reduction in venous distensibility). The findings suggest anatomical or functional postganglionic denervation of lower limb veins causing excessive gravitational blood pooling with consequent orthostatic hypotension in these patients.