Systemic sclerosis: an ultrasonographic study of skin and subcutaneous tissue in relation to clinical findings.

Background: Skin thickening and tightness are characteristic manifestations of systemic sclerosis (SSc) and the only major diagnostic criterion. The aim of this study is to compare the results of high frequency ultrasound of skin and subcutaneous tissue (SC) in SSc patients and healthy control subjects and also to correlate our patients†US findings with the severity score and with different clinical parameters.

Methods: Skin thickness and subcutaneous thickness were measured by high frequency (12-5 MHz) ultrasound at five different anatomical sites in 40 patients with SSc and 40 healthy control subjects.