OBJECTIVES Patients with clinical signs of vasculopathy were screened with capillaroscopy for microangiopathy, and its presence was evaluated in the diagnosis of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). For this purpose, autoantibody profiles in high risk patients with microhaemorrhages were correlated with thrombotic events. METHODS 738 patients from a Rheumatology Outpatients cohort were consecutiv...

BACKGROUND The detection of microvascular damage in type 1 diabetes is difficult and traditional investigations do not detect changes until they are well established. The purpose of this study was to investigate the combined ability of nailfold capillaroscopy, laser Doppler flowmetry, retinal vessel analysis and 24-hr ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to detect early microvascular changes in...

Background Capillaroscopy is a study technique using direct in vivo images of the skin microcirculation. It constitutes an accessible and non-invasive method to analyze microvascular abnormalities patients with rheumatic diseases. Its usefulness has been demonstrated diseases such as Systemic Sclerosis (ES), Sjögren’s syndrome, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Dermatomyositis, lupus erythematosus (SLE) an...

Although wide range investigations on the heart and great vessels have been reported in acromegaly, the field of microcirculation is still largely vacant. The nailfold is a window through which we can observe in vivo the vascular bed. This study investigates through nailfold capillaroscopy the morphology of cutaneous microcirculation in acromegaly in relationship with the usual hormonal paramet...

Nailfold capillaroscopy (NC) is a non-invasive imaging technique employed to assess the condition of blood capillaries in the nailfold, and is routinely used for the detection of scleroderma spectral disorders, Raynaud’s phenomenon and other connective tissue diseases. In this chapter, we present computer-aided approaches for capillary inspection, in particular focussing on the tasks of image e...

Nailfold capillaroscopy (NC) is a non-invasive imaging technique employed to assess the condition of blood capillaries in the nailfold. It is particularly useful for early detection of scleroderma spectrum disorders and evaluation of Raynaud’s phenomenon. While automated approaches to analysing NC images are relatively rare, they are typically based on extraction and analysis of individual capi...