Systemic sclerosis with normal or nonspecific nailfold capillaroscopy.

Background: In systemic sclerosis (SSc), a specific nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) pattern is observed in 90% of cases and seems to be associated with severity and progression of the disease.

Objective: To describe the characteristics of SSc patients with normal or nonspecific (normal/nonspecific) NVC.

Methods: In a retrospective cohort study, clinical features and visceral involvements of 25 SSc cases with normal/nonspecific NVC were compared to 63 SSc controls with the SSc-specific NVC pattern.

Cutaneous microvascular blood flow and reactivity in patients with homozygous sickle cell anaemia.

Homozygous sickle cell anaemia (SS disease) involves a high prevalence of skin ulcerations, and background experience concerning the cutaneous microcirculatory flux and reactivity in this disease is very limited. We investigated, by laser-Doppler velocimetry, the microcirculatory cutaneous blood flow and vasoreactivity in 17 patients with SS disease but no cutaneous trophic changes, vs. the corresponding values in 18 normal matched controls.