Microvascular abnormalities in Sjögren's syndrome: nailfold capillaroscopy.

OBJECTIVE To describe microvascular abnormalities by nailfold capillaroscopy in patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS) with or without Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) and those with anticentromere antibodies (ACA). METHODS Forty patients with SS (14 without RP, 16 with RP, 10 with ACA), 20 patients with scleroderma (SSc) (10 with limited and 10 with diffuse disease) (disease control group) and 40 healthy controls (control group) were evaluated by nailfold capillaroscopy. RESULTS Capillaroscopic abnormalities in SS ranged from non-specific findings (crossed capillaries) to more specific findings (confluent haemorrhages and pericapillary haemorrhages) or scleroderma-type findings. SS patients with RP presented capillary abnormalities in higher frequency than patients without RP. The majority of SS patients with ACA (80%) presented scleroderma-type findings. CONCLUSION Nailfold capillaroscopy can be used as a simple non-invasive method to evaluate the microvascular abnormalities in SS patients, especially in those with RP and those with ACA.