PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Ivan Castellví
AU  - Carmen Pilar Simeón-Aznar
AU  - Mónica Sarmiento
AU  - Ana Fortuna
AU  - Mercedes Mayos
AU  - Carme Geli
AU  - César Diaz-Torné
AU  - Patricia Moya
AU  - Josep Maria De Llobet
AU  - Jordi Casademont
TI  - Association Between Nailfold Capillaroscopy Findings and Pulmonary Function Tests in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis
AID  - 10.3899/jrheum.140276
DP  - 2015 Feb 01
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - 222--227
VI  - 42
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/42/2/222.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/42/2/222.full
SO  - J Rheumatol2015 Feb 01; 42
AB  - Objective. To determine whether there is an association between different capillaroscopic findings and pulmonary function tests in systemic sclerosis (SSc). Methods. We did a retrospective observational study in a cohort of patients with SSc and early SSc. Patients with at least 1 nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) magnified 120× were included. Pathological findings were giant capillaries, angiogenesis, and density loss. Findings were compared with lung function values: percent expected value of forced vital capacity (FVC), DLCO, and FVC/DLCO ratio. Other variables collected were sex and SSc type, and the presence of digital ulcers (DU), interstitial lung disease (ILD), scleroderma renal crisis, and/or pulmonary hypertension (PH). Results. Of 136 patients with SSc, 85 had undergone an NVC. The frequency of ILD, DU, and PH was 24.1%, 28.7%, and 17.2%, respectively. Data analysis showed that patients with density loss had worse FVC% (86.91 ± 19.42 vs 101.13 ± 16.06, p < 0.01) and DLCO% (71.43 ± 21.19 vs 85.9 ± 19.81, p < 0.01) compared to those without. Conclusion. Patients with loss of density present worse FVC and DLCO values. Prospective studies are warranted to determine whether NVC is useful for studying pulmonary function in SSc.