OBJECTIVE To examine racial differences in disease onset, extent, manifestations, and survival among women with scleroderma. METHODS A retrospective cohort study of women with scleroderma, diagnosed in Michigan between 1980 and 1991, was conducted. Clinical, laboratory, and demographic data were abstracted from the patients' medical records. RESULTS A total of 514 women with scleroderma wer...

OBJECTIVES A higher incidence of cancer in scleroderma patients compared with the general population has been suggested by several observational studies, reporting, however, different estimates. Therefore, we aimed to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to definitely assess this association. METHODS We searched MEDLINE and Embase for all original articles of observational studies on...

OBJECTIVE Few studies exist on sexual activity and functioning in female patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc, scleroderma). We studied the patient-reported impact of SSc on sexual functioning among female patients. METHODS 101 SSc patients completed the Short Form-36 (SF-36), the Female Sexual Functioning Index (FSFI) and the Female Sexual Function in Scleroderma (FSFS) questionnaires. RE...

OBJECTIVE Antiphospholipid antibodies (APLs) could be associated with an increased risk of vascular pathologies in systemic scleroderma. The aim of our study was to search for APLs in patients affected by systemic scleroderma and to evaluate their involvement in the clinical manifestations of this disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS We conducted a cross-sectional descriptive study, from January 20...

Scleroderma is a female-prevalent autoimmune disease of unclear etiology. Two fundamental gender differences, skewed X-chromosome inactivation (XCI) and pregnancy-related microchimerism, have been implicated in scleroderma. We investigated the XCI patterns of female scleroderma patients and the parental origin of the inactive X chromosome in those patients having skewed XCI patterns (>80%). In ...

INTRODUCTION Localized scleroderma is an inflammatory disease in its first stages and a fibrotic process in later stages, principally mediated by the transforming growth factor β. To date, there is no standard treatment. The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness and safety of 8% pirfenidone gel in patients with localized scleroderma. METHODS This was an open phase II clin...

BACKGROUND Scleroderma is a fairly rare connective tissue disease whose autoantibody profile is associated with different clinical manifestations. The prevalence of autoantibodies in scleroderma is influenced by race and genetics. OBJECTIVE To study the prevalence of anti-Scl-70, anti-centromere (ACA) and anti-U1-RNP antibodies in patients with scleroderma in southern Brazil and verify their ...

Scleroderma is an autoimmune disease that can affect multiple organ systems, including the gastrointestinal tract. Intussusception, the telescoping of the bowel that can lead to intestinal obstruction, is an uncommon phenomenon in adults. We report the first case of sigmoid intussusception in a patient with scleroderma.

Radionuclide hepatobiliary imaging was performed on a patient with a longstanding history of scleroderma who presented with abdominal pain suggestive of biliary disease. Cystic duct patency was documented after 10 min with tracer accumulation in the second portion of the duodenum which failed to progress consistent with the duodenal hypomotility of scleroderma. The patient was given intravenous...

Joint manifestations in scleroderma (Scl) and polymyositis (PM) are dominated by inflammatory arthralgia. Arthritis is less common and preferentially affects the hands, wrists, knees, and ankles. Involvement of the hip has been rarely reported in the literature. We report a case of coxitis diagnosed in a patient suffering from scleroderma-polymyositis overlap syndrome successfully treated by ul...