Ultrasound examination of skin thickness in patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (scleroderma)

A new ultrasound technique for measuring skin thickness in 40 patients with progressive systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) and in 10 healthy control subjects has been evaluated. High frequency (10 MHz) dynamic ultrasound examination was performed at the proximal and middle phalanges of both second fingers. Measurements of the control subjects on two separate occasions demonstrated a good reproducibility of the technique with a standard deviation of 0.06 mm. The skin was thicker in patients with scleroderma 3.3 +/- 0.7 mm (mean +/- SD) compared with control subjects 2.5 +/- 0.2 mm (p less than 0.001). No relation between skin thickness and duration of disease was observed. This method can be used to monitor changes in skin thickness over time.