The clinical presentation of scleroderma in childhood is even more varied than in adult life. This study of 19 children shows that antinuclear antibodies (ANA) detected on the HEp2 cell substrate are just as common as in the adult disorders. All seven children with diffuse scleroderma or acrosclerosis were ANA positive, as were eight of the 12 with more localised disease. Antinucleolar antibodi...

An autoantibody specific for the centromere region of chromosomes and recently detected in the serum of patients with scleroderma was found in ther serum of 10 (9.1%) of 110 consecutive patients presenting with primary biliary cirrhosis. It was found exclusively among those with scleroderma, giving a prevalence of 50% in that group, and all patients with telangiectasia or calcinosis had the ant...

Scleroderma is a rare condition, occurring most commonly in females, the onset of which is usually heralded by Raynaud's phenomenon, cutaneous sclerosis, or arthritic symptoms. General constitutional disturbances such as lassitude, anorexia, and weight loss are common. The course of the disease may be prolonged, or death may supervene within a year of onset. No part of the body appears to be im...

Kidney failure is the principal cause of death in scleroderma and accounts for at least 50% of deaths in this disease. Management of scleroderma-related end-stage renal disease requires some form of renal replacement therapy. Survival up to 18 months has been reported in one patient on continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. Surviving for more than 1 year on automated peritoneal dialysis has...

Background: Microvascular changes are one of the first obvious steps in numerous inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Nailfold video capillaroscopy (NFC) is an easy, reliable and safe method for evaluating peripheral microangiopathy. The objective of this study was to examine nailfold microcirculation in RA patients, assess morphological and structural changes quantitatively...

We report a four-year-old girl presented with progressive linear scleroderma affecting the right leg. Biopsy specimen disclosed typical histopathological findings of localized scleroderma. Right leg magnetic resonance image (MRI) showed high signal areas on T2 weighted images on the subcutaneous fatty tissue, muscles, and bone marrow, suggesting that skin inflammation extended to the bone marro...

Scleroderma is an autoimmune disease influenced by interplay among genetic and environmental factors, of which one is stress. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is frequently used to treat stress and those diseases in which stress has been implicated. Results are presented from a survey of patients with scleroderma. Respondents were a convenient sample of those attending a national co...

A 47‐year‐old woman with mixed connective tissue disease was treated abatacept. After 2 months, a 3‐cm depression atrophied surface observed on her back, which had histopathological consistent the symptoms of localized scleroderma. Although some cases paradoxical reaction or cutaneous adverse event have been reported from abatacept, no scleroderma has reported, suggesting this to be unique case.

Cell-mediated immunity to skin extracts was studied by the macrophage migration inhibition test, lymphocyte transformation, and direct cytotoxicity to skin fibroblasts, in normal individuals and patients with progressive systemic sclerosis. The latter included 18 individuals with diffuse scleroderma and 12 with the CREST syndrome, a variant form of systemic sclerosis in which there is more limi...

Difficulty in the diagnosis of the disease scleroderma may occur at the early stage prior to the development of obvious skin sclerosis. A presumptive diagnosis may be made if Raynaud's phenomenon is accompanied by a positive 'neck test', 'scleroderma' capillary changes in the nailfolds or antinuclear antibodies. Definitive diagnosis may have to be delayed for several years from the onset of Ray...