Systemic scleroderma patients have improved skin perfusion after the transdermal application of PGE1 ethyl ester.

Background: Patients with systemic scleroderma exhibit a noticeable slowing of blood cell velocities or even stasis in the capillaries of the skin. In this study the effects of transdermally applied prostaglandin PGE1 ethyl ester on nutritive cutaneous perfusion and on Raynaud's symptoms were investigated.

Patients And Methods: 24 patients with systemic scleroderma were treated transdermally over a period of 14 days with prostaglandin E1 ethyl ester patches.

Endothelium-dependent regulation of cutaneous microcirculation in patients with systemic scleroderma.

The microinjection method used for the first time in this study makes it possible to measure in vivo the endothelium-dependent vasomotion in the nailfold capillaries of systemic scleroderma patients. Aceylcholine (blood concentration of 10(-5) M) and sodium nitroprusside (blood concentration of 1.6 microg per kg per min) were used as test substances to examine capillary vasomotion.

Transdermal application of prostaglandin E1 ethyl ester for the treatment of trophic acral skin lesions in a patient with systemic scleroderma.

An early dinical symptom in scleroderma patients is Raynaud's phenomenon. Later cutaneous manifestations of the disease include oedematous swelling in the extremities and in more extreme cases often very painful, refractory acral necroses. We report on a 56-year-old female patient who participated in a prospective, double-blind, multicentre comparative pilot study because of her severe Raynaud symptoms, with dystrophic skin lesions on both hands.