myth ? venepuncture : fact or cultures during Contamination of blood

Sir, Abramson et al. have recently presented a follow-up study of the pulmonary function in 66 cases with systemic sclerosis (SSc).' We have also performed a follow-up of spirometric function study in 52 patients with SSc by Pulmostar (Fenyves-Gut, Basel, Switzerland) volumestable equipment.2 The female/male ratio was 51/1, and 15 patients showed symptoms of diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis. The mean age at the onset of disease was 38.4 ± 8.8 years. The second investigation followed our first pulmonary function tests by a mean of 4.2 ± 3.8 (18) years. In contrast to the geographic and genetic differences between the two patient populations, our findings, as shown in Table I, give further additional data that the majority of patients have abnormal lung function when first tested, but overall significant worsening of spirometry (including vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV,)) is not characteristic of the