Sublingual microcirculatory alterations in patients with stable systemic sclerosis

摘要

IntroductionSystemic sclerosis (SSc) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by fibrosis, inflammation, and microcirculatory alterations. ObjectiveTo evaluate abnormalities in the sublingual microcirculation of SSc patients and to establish any differences compared to healthy controls. MethodsThe sublingual microcirculation was determined using a Sidestream dark-field (SDF) imaging device (MicroScan; MicroVision Medical, Amsterdam, the Netherlands) in patients with SSc and controls. ResultsTwelve patients with SSc (75 with diffuse cutaneous SSc) were evaluated (mean age: 52.08±2.08 years). A group of 20 volunteers was used as the control. Significantly lower total capillary density (TCD) (9.2 8.5–9.7 vs. 10.9 9.8–12.5) and functional capillary density (FCD) (7.0 6.8–7.5 vs. 8.6 7.5–9.8) were observed in SSc patients than in healthy controls. ConclusionsSSc is related to significantly lower capillary density in the sublingual microcirculation, and the SDF imaging technique could be an alternative to nailfold videocapillaroscopy for diagnosing and following-up patients with SSc.