The morphological-functional study of microcirculation is of fundamental importance; in fact, the microvascular bed is directly involved both in autoimmune etiopathogenesis pathologies, and in acute and chronic inflammatory etiopathogenesis pathologies. Oral capillaroscopy is a very stimulating method for studying microcirculation, because of the possibility of studying small vessels in vivo by...

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disorder of unknown aetiology characterized by early impairment of the microvascular system. Nailfold microangiopathy and decreased peripheral blood perfusion are typical clinical aspects of SSc. The best method to evaluate vascular injury is nailfold videocapillaroscopy, which detects peripheral capillary morphology, and classifies and scores the abnor...

Objective: to study the relationship between microvascular lesions of Diabetes Mellitus and alterations in nailfold capillaroscopy. Subjects Methods: cross-sectional including 140 individuals (70 with 70 controls). Epidemiological clinical variables were collected from patient’s charts. Fundus ophthalmoscopy, capillaroscopy, analysis microalbuminuria renal clearance as well fasting glycaemia Hb...

Background: The present study aimed to investigate the Nailfold Capillaroscopy (NC) features of the patients with dermatomyositis (DM) and its correlation with their disease activity indices, physical findings, and laboratory results. Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted on 27 DM patients above 16 years old who had referred to an(there are 3 clinics not one) outpatient rh...

Case 1 17-year-old boy referred to the Autoimmune Diseases Centre with symmetrical proximal muscle weakness, weight loss, dysphagia, periungual lesions and erythema of hands and eyelids with a year of evolution. Laboratory tests showed elevated lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, transaminases and aldolase. Immunological/serological tests were negative. Capillaroscopy was compatible with Ju...

OBJECTIVE : To assess nailfold capillary density and dimensions in patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon (PRP), limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (LSSc) and diffuse cutaneous SSc (DSSc), and healthy control subjects. METHODS : Using the technique of nailfold video capillaroscopy, capillary density and dimensions were averaged from all visible capillaries in a 3 mm length of the nailfo...