[The thermoregulatory effectiveness of calcitonin in progressive scleroderma]

During a 10-day hospitalization, 21 patients suffering from systemic sclerosis (SS) with Raynaud's phenomenon were treated intermittently with intravenous infusions of calcitonin for 5 hours daily. Telethermographically, we measured a significantly shortened rewarming period of the patients' hand after standardized cooling. Up to now, as many as 47 patients with SS have been treated in the same way during 152 10-day cycles of calcitonin infusion. Only 7 patients interrupted the calcitonin therapy because of transient headache or nausea. Allergic reactions have not been observed, so far.