Comment The patient is presented for the following reasons: (1) To emphasize that generalized itching seems to be a common precursor of scleroderma and dermatomyositis. Three of our last 7 patients with scleroderma and 2 of the last 3 with dermatomyositis have had puritus for one to five years before these diagnoses were made. (2) To invite comment about the diagnosis as to whether this is gene...

Antihypertensive treatment may be life saving in scleroderma renal crisis. Patients surviving such crises frequently have had dramatic improvement in the dermal manifestations of their scleroderma. To investigate the potential role of antihypertensive treatment in nonhypertensive patients we randomly assigned 28 patients with systemic sclerosis into drug (14) and placebo (14) groups, using bloc...

CC: calcinosis cutis DLE: discoid lupus erythematosus SLE: systemic lupus erythematosus INTRODUCTION Calcinosis cutis (CC) is a rare disorder known to occur commonly in association with underlying autoimmune connective tissue diseases. CC primarily occurs in patients with dermatomyositis, systemic scleroderma, and mixed connective tissue disease. It is only rarely associated with systemic lupus...

Aim: Inflammation has an important role in the development of atherosclerosis. The risk atherosclerosis and its complications is higher for patients with diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus rheumatoid arthritis whom inflammatory activity high than healthy individuals. However, several studies have shown conflicting results scleroderma. In this study, carotid intima-media thickness (CI...

961 described in SSc patients with pulmonary fibrosis's or by spontaneous release of interleukin-1 since these alterations may enhance T helper cell function in antibody synthesis. This report emphasizes that antinuclear anti-Scl-70 antibodies may distinguish not only the diffuse cutaneous subset of SSc, but also patients at risk ofdeveloping severe lung disease. REFERENCES 1 Fritzler NJ, Kinse...

Patients with systemic sclerosis may develop borderline pulmonary arterial pressure. The clinical relevance of this condition is not always clear. Reported data support the evidence that this subgroup may represent an intermediate stage between normal pulmonary arterial pressure and manifest pulmonary arterial hypertension, a serious complication in scleroderma. Recognizing the clinical relevan...

A case of severe diffuse systemic sclerosis with cardiomegaly and cardiac failure is described. Treatment with D-penicillamine caused a pronounced decrease in heart size, together with clinical improvement. The use of penicillamine in scleroderma heart has not previously been reported.

Systemic sclerosis (systemic scleroderma) is a chronic connective tissue disease of unknown etiology that causes widespread microvascular damage and excessive deposition of collagen in the skin and internal organs. Raynaud phenomenon and scleroderma (hardening of the skin) are hallmarks of the disease. The typical patient is a young or middle-age woman with a history of Raynaud phenomenon who p...

We present the first documented case of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) with severe hypertension complicated by polymyositis and systemic sclerosis sine scleroderma. TTP developed in the progressive phase of visceral fibrosis in the absence of skin thickening. ADAMTS13 activity was not useful for the diagnosis of TTP. Although TTP and scleroderma renal crisis (SRC) share similar findi...

Generalized morphea is a subtype of localized scleroderma, which lacks systemic manifestations and displays widespread, multiple, well-circumscribed, indurated plaques. We represent a 46-year-old woman with generalized morphea. More than 3 years ago she developed multiple, nonpruritic plaques symmetrically on the trunk and extremities. The patient’s clinical history, laboratory analysis and his...