title: Systemic sclerosis: clinical manifestations.
abstract: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a severe autoimmune disease that involves skin and internal organs. Clinical manifestations of SSc are very heterogeneous and derive from microvascular, inflammatory and fibrotic tissue changes. Besides the skin, lung, gastrointestinal tract, heart and kidneys are mainly affected. Over the last years, a progress in the treatment was made, especially in the field of renal involvement and pulmonary hypertension, but prognosis of the disease remains still bad. More efforts are needed to improve the management of organ impairment by early detection and prompt treatment, in order to prevent the development of severe complications.
authors.forename: Jelena
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Blagojevic
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedicine, Division of Rheumatology AOUC, Denothe Centre, University of Florence, viale Pieraccini 18, 50139 Firenze, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Matucci-Cerinic