[The presence of scleroderma and chronic lymphadenosis concurrently in a patient (author's transl)]

This report deals with the case of a 50 year-old woman with long-standing scleroderma of the acral-asphyxial type with a relatively slight tendency to progression. Chronic lymphadenosis has been an additional feature of this case over the past few years. The following findings appear of particular interest: autoimmune phenomena in the form of antinuclear antibodies, a virtually monoclonal proliferation of B-lymphocytes and a relative T-lymphocyte deficiency. It is suggested that both conditions may be pathogenetically connected with an immunologically defined insufficiency of the lymphocytic system. Hence, in view of this observation, it may not be correct to consider scleroderma a "paraneoplastic phenomenon".