PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - HERMAN M.A. HOFSTEE
AU  - ALEXANDRE E. VOSKUYL
AU  - ANTON VONK NOORDEGRAAF
AU  - YVO M. SMULDERS
AU  - PIET E. POSTMUS
AU  - BEN A.C. DIJKMANS
AU  - ERIK H. SERNÉ
TI  - Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Systemic Sclerosis Is Associated with Profound Impairment of Microvascular Endothelium-dependent Vasodilatation
AID  - 10.3899/jrheum.110397
DP  - 2012 Jan 01
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - 100--105
VI  - 39
IP  - 1
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/39/1/100.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/39/1/100.full
SO  - J Rheumatol2012 Jan 01; 39
AB  - Objective. Impaired microvascular function may contribute to organ complications in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). We investigated whether SSc patients with and without pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) show a graded impairment of microvascular function compared to healthy controls. Methods. Twenty-two patients with SSc and 22 controls were studied. All patients underwent right heart catheterization; 6 had no PAH (SSc-nonPAH) and 16 had PAH (SSc-PAH). Acetylcholine (ACh)-mediated endothelium-dependent vasodilatation and sodium nitroprusside (SNP)-mediated endothelium-independent vasodilatation were assessed by iontophoresis combined with laser Doppler flowmetry. Results. Compared to sex- and age-matched controls, ACh-mediated vasodilatation was reduced in SSc-PAH (340.4% vs 79.5%, respectively; p < 0.01), but not in SSc-nonPAH (340.4% vs 397.9%; p = 0.90). No significant differences were present between the groups in SNP-mediated vasodilatation. Conclusion. Systemic microvascular endothelium-dependent vasodilatation is markedly reduced in SSc complicated by PAH.