[Metabolism, vascular tonus and the bone-joint system of psoriasis patients]

A total of 113 patients with disseminated psoriasis were examined. Roentgenograms of the joints have shown signs of osteoarthrosis deformans in 85.7 percent of them. Involvement of the joints of the soles was recorded in 80.5 percent, of the hands in 58.3 percent, of iliosacral articulation in 33.3 percent of patients. These shifts were in line with clinico-laboratory changes characteristic of psoriatic arthropathy in less than one third of the examinees. Rheovasography of the upper and lower limbs has revealed the spastic asthenic syndrome in all the examinees; this syndrome most frequently manifested by increased tone and decreased pulse blood content of the vessels. A direct correlation between x-ray changes in the joints and disordered vascular tone of the limbs has been revealed. The detected elevation of blood lipid level in psoriasis patients as a rule did not correlate with impaired blood supply to the upper and lower limbs. These findings bring the authors to a conclusion that in psoriasis not only the skin, but the bone-and-joint and vascular systems are involved in the process, as are the metabolic processes.