
Is Scleroderma Pattern Able to Address a Specific Diagnosis of Connective Tissue Diseases? Pages 32-35
Serena Bonin1, Giuseppe Stinco2, Nicola di Meo1, Laura Quaranta1, Paraskevi Chatzikokkinou1, Cinzia Buligan2, Sara Trevisini1 and Giusto Trevisan1
1Department of Medical Sciences, Unit of Dermatology, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy; 2Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, Institute of Dermatology, University of Udine, Udine, Italy
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12970/2310-9874.2013.01.02.2
Download PDFAbstract: Introduction: Nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) is a non-invasive imaging technique widely used to investigate microvascular abnormalities in different connective tissue diseases (CTDs).
Methods: We conducted a retrospective study where we analysed 415 patients submitted to NVC. Patients with scleroderma-like pattern were selected to investigate if there are specific NCV changes, which discriminate among the different CTDs. Ninety-one patients met this requirement and had a diagnosis of CTD. For each patient the following abnormalities were observed: enlarged and giant capillaries, oedema, loss and rarefaction of capillaries, long loops and minor dystrophies.
Results: Multivariate analyses did not reveal any specific modification among the analysed co-variables for scleroderma (SS) and dermatomyositis (DM). For the others CTDs analysed in this study, logistic regression revealed that some of the capilloroscopic features could be indicative of specific diseases. Of note, the presence of megacapillaries with long loops in a scleroderma-like pattern seems to be highly indicative for a diagnosis of systemic lupus erythaematosus (SLE).
Conclusions: Our data showed that in CTDs with a scleroderma-like pattern, the NVC variables alone are not able to discriminate for a specific diagnosis of CTD. Nevertheless, there are some NVC features, which could strongly address the differential diagnosis toward a specific CTD.
Keywords: Nailfold videocapillaroscopy, connective tissues diseases, scleroderma-like pattern. Read more