[Analysis of Raynaud's phenomenon in systemic scleroderma: comparative study with that in vibration disease]

Raynaud's phenomenon in systemic scleroderma (SD: 37 cases) was analysed and compared with that of vibration disease (VD: 21 cases) in order to clarify the entity of SD. Raynaud's phenomenon was provoked by cold exposure, high temperature (hot water) exposure, mental stress and vibration stress, which were seen in 37 cases, 22 cases, 7 cases and 3 cases of SD, respectively. However, in VD patients, 21 cases were provoked only by cold exposure other than for vibration stress (1 case). Raynaud's phenomena in SD and VD patients differed in appearance duration, and color changes. These data lead to the conclusion that the vascular responses of SD for extrinsic factors including vibration stress and cold exposure may be different from those of VD.