Microvasculature in systemic sclerosis

The considerable amount of consistent data obtained with different techniques regarding the nailfold capillary morphology and function in SSc sheds increasing light on the natural history and the different evolutive patterns of SSc microangiopathy. These data also provide a strong support for a nosologic spectrum of entities like SSc, CREST syndrome, UCTD and prescleroderma RP. From a practical point of view, a more accurate semiologic analysis of RP should provide interesting clues for the clinical management of patients consulting for that vasomotor disturbance. In the next few years, one can predict that quantitation of the microangiopathy, using morphometry and dynamic videomicroscopy, will increase the usefulness of capillary microscopy in clinical practice for the diagnosis and follow-up of such patients.