Introduction: Patients with systemic sclerosis have a high prevalence of myocardial fibrosis, which has a potential negative impact on cardiac function. Diastolic dysfunction is a frequent echocardiographic finding in patients with scleroderma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible influence of myocardial fibrosis on the diastolic function of the left ventricle in patients with sys...

Eosinophilic fasciitis (EF) often is confused with scleroderma. A 50-year-old woman presented with progressive tightening of the skin of the arms and legs. She complained of diffuse joint pain that was prominent in the hands and wrists. Her past medical history was significant for hypothyroidism. A skin biopsy revealed superficial and deep infiltrates of inflammatory cells with eosinophils. Phy...

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...

1 Division of Oral Biology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada 2 Centre for Rheumatology, University College London (Royal Free Campus), UK Background Activated adhesive signaling is a hallmark of fibroblasts isolated from scars of scleroderma (systemic sclerosis; SSc) lesions. Rac1 plays a key role in adhesive signaling. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of Ra...

OBJECTIVES To examine the frequency and correlates of fatigue and its impact on physical and social functioning in patients with scleroderma, and to investigate whether fatigue mediates an association between pain and physical function. METHODS One hundred and seven scleroderma patients attending an academic scleroderma specialty centre completed measures of fatigue, sleep, pain, depressive s...

Systemic sclerosis (SSc; scleroderma) is an autoimmune connective tissue disorder characterized by microvasculopathy, excessive collagen deposition and autoimmunity. It can affect virtually any organ with the skin, heart, lungs, kidneys and gastrointestinal systems most commonly involved. Early studies have indicated that patients with early active diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc) and significant ...

We have previously shown that frontoparietal scleroderma en coup de sabre, a type of linear scleroderma that affects the face and scalp, follows the lines of Blaschko, but the question whether linear scleroderma that occurs in the limbs follows Blaschko's lines has not been answered. We describe the case of a 4-year-old girl with multiple morphea showing remarkable unilateral systematized distr...

An inquiry into the relation between exposure to silica dust, the presence of silicosis, and progressive systemic sclerosis was conducted in white South African gold miners by means of a case-control study. Seventy nine cases of progressive systemic sclerosis were matched by year of birth with an equal number of control miners selected randomly but bearing in mind the administrative channel thr...