title: Organ involvement in Argentinian systemic sclerosis patients with "late" pattern as compared to patients with "early/active" pattern by nailfold capillaroscopy.
abstract: Changes in nailfold capillaroscopy in systemic sclerosis patients could be related to the disease severity. The aim of this study was to investigate whether patients with "late" scleroderma (SD) pattern have more organ involvement than patients with "early/active" SD pattern. Forty-six Argentinian patients (44 women and 2 men), with a diagnosis of systemic sclerosis, were distributed in two groups based on the presence of late and early/active patterns. Organ involvement was assessed as follows: pulmonary function by chest radiography, high-resolution chest tomography (HRCT), lung volume tests, and diffusing capacity for carbon monoxide (DLCO); esophageal involvement by manometry; and pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) by Doppler echocardiography and six-minute walk test. Honeycombing of the lungs evaluated by HRCT was more frequently present in patients with late pattern compared with early/active patients (p = 0.01). We also found statistically significant differences in lung volume tests (p = 0.03) and DLCO (p = 0.02) between the two SD pattern groups. Esophageal manometry showed a significantly higher frequency of motility disorders in the group with late pattern (p = 0.0024). In this study, patients with late pattern had higher frequency of pulmonary and esophageal involvement compared with patients with early/active pattern.
authors: Division of Rheumatology, Bernardino Rivadavia Hospital, Avenida Las Heras 2670, Buenos Aires 1425, Argentina. lucilamarino@hotmail.com
authors: Lucila
authors: L
authors: Marino Claverie
authors: Elizabeth
authors: E
authors: Knobel
authors: Lorena
authors: L
authors: Takashima
authors: Lorena
authors: L
authors: Techera
authors: Marina
authors: M
authors: Oliver
authors: Paula
authors: P
authors: Gonzalez
authors: Félix E
authors: FE
authors: Romanini
authors: María L
authors: ML
authors: Fonseca
authors: Marta N
authors: MN
authors: Mamani
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001118:Argentina; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020678:Microscopic Angioscopy / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009262:Nails / Q000473:pathology; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed / Q000379:methods