Mapping in healthy subjects different body areas for dermal thickness and skin hardness by high frequency ultrasound and durometry.

Objectives: Body mapping of normal values of skin thickness and hardness may be a useful aid in daily practice. By employing non-invasive techniques, our pilot study provides these values in healthy individuals using high frequency ultrasound (HFUS) and durometry in areas used to evaluate the modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS).

Methods: One-hundred-fifty-two healthy volunteers from Ghent and Genova University Hospitals (mean ages 31.

Description of Peripheral Blood Perfusion by Laser Speckle Contrast Analysis (LASCA) in 'Early' versus 'Clinically Overt' Systemic Sclerosis in Routine Clinics.

Objective: To investigate in an unselected, systemic sclerosis (SSc) cohort if baseline laser speckle contrast analysis (LASCA) peripheral blood perfusion (PBP) measurements differ between 'early' SSc (without skin involvement, or 'limited' SSc-LSSc) and 'clinically overt' SSc (with skin involvement, limited cutaneous SSc-LcSSc and diffuse cutaneous SSc-DcSSc) in routine setting.

Methods: A group of twenty consecutive 'early' SSc patients and forty consecutive 'clinically overt' SSc patients (twenty LcSSc and twenty DcSSc) underwent clinical and LASCA examinations (to assess the peripheral blood perfusion [PBP] of both hands volar).

Results: No statistically significant difference in adjusted PBP was found in the 'early' versus the 'clinically overt' group ( = 0.