SHARE – workpackage 5: evidence based recommendations for diagnosis and treatment of juvenile localized scleroderma and juvenile systemic sclerosis Roberta Culpo, Sebastian J Vastert, Angelo Ravelli, Nico Wulffraat, Ivan Foeldvari, Francesco Zulian, Jordi Anton, Tadej Avcin, Eileen Baildam, Christina Boros, Jeffrey Chaitow, Tamas Constantin, Pavla Dolezalova, Ozgur Kasapcopur, Sheila Knupp de O...

Background The concept of using antibiotics to treat Scleroderma stems from research done initially by Thomas M Brown, MD at the National Institutes of Health, Johns Hopkins and the Rockefeller Institute. Brown used antibiotic therapy to treat a variety of autoimmune diseases based on the theory that arthritic diseases, including Scleroderma, are caused by mycoplasma or bacterial infections. My...

BACKGROUND Studies on gastrointestinal symptoms, dysfunctions, and neurological disorders in systemic scleroderma are lacking so far. METHODS Thirty-eight scleroderma patients (34 limited, 4 diffuse), 60 healthy controls and 68 dyspeptic controls were scored for upper and lower gastrointestinal symptoms (dyspepsia, bowel habits), gastric and gallbladder emptying to liquid meal (functional ult...

Purpose Localised scleroderma (LS) and juvenile systemic sclerosis (jSSc) are very rare paediatric diseases managed by paediatric rheumatologists and dermatologists[1]. Optimal treatment is controversial in the absence of clinical trials, but most paediatric rheumatologists advocate systemic immunosuppression to avoid progressive deformity, functional disability and disfigurement[2]. We aimed t...