[Subcutaneous and tendinous nodules in scleroderma. Apropos of 4 anatomo-clinical cases]

The authors have observed 3 cases of pure scleroderma and one case of scleroderma in which tendinous or subcutaneous nodular structures were present. To the author's knowledge, such nodules have never been described previously in cases of scleroderma. Their site and their histology identifies them as "rheumatoid" nodules and at the same time provides other valuable information. Scleroderma is thus, together with rheumatoid polyarthritis and lupus erythematosus, one of the possible causes of nodule formation, and the authors put forward the hypothesis that these nodules might represent one of the first lesions of the Thibierge and Weissenbach syndrome.