Cutaneous Features, Autoantibody Profile, and Nailfold Capillaroscopy of Systemic Sclerosis: A Study of 60 Cases.

BACKGROUND: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune chronic multisystem disorder with a plethora of cutaneous manifestations. These manifestations often may be the only presenting complaint. Early identification of these help in diagnosing grievous systemic manifestations and their prompt and appropriate treatment.

AIMS: To study the clinical profile of SSc, modified Rodnan's skin scoring (mRSS), nailfold capillaroscopy (NFC) patterns, antibody profile in the western India population, and their association with cutaneous manifestations.

METHODS: Patients of SSc fulfilling the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) 2013 classification of SSc criteria, who attended dermatology outpatient department (OPD) between January 2017 and September 2018 were included in the study. The demographic data, cutaneous features, autoantibody profile, mRSS, and NFC pattern were noted Results: A total of 60 patients (57 females and 3 males; mean age years) of SSc were evaluated. Clinical subtypes were 40 diffuse cutaneous SSc and 20 limited cutaneous SSc. The most common presenting symptoms were Raynaud's phenomenon (RP) (95%) and skin tightening (90%). The common cutaneous findings were sclerodactyly (86.7%), stellate scars (78.3%), parrot-beaked nose (76.7%), mask-like facies (75%), microstomia (56.7%), salt and pepper pigmentation (55%), puffy finger (46.7%), telangiectasia (46.7%), digital ulcer (38.3%), fixed flexion deformity (33.3%), and calcinosis cutis (8.33%). Limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis (lcSSc) had mRSS score of 8.3 ± 4.1 and diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis (dcSSc) subset had a score of 28 ± 10.4. Antinuclear antibody (ANA), Anti-topoisomerase antibody (ATA), and anti-centromere antibody (ACA) were positive in 59, 49, and 7 patients, respectively. The NFC patterns were early (23.3%), active (45%), and late (18.3%).

LIMITATION: The sample size of the study was small. We were not able to determine the significance of other less common autoantibodies with scleroderma.

CONCLUSION: The study highlights the importance of identifying early cutaneous findings and the role of a useful diagnostic and prognostic reproducible scoring system (mRSS) and NFC.