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Nailfold capillary abnormalities in Behçet's disease
G Vaiopoulos1, N Pangratis, M Samarkos
1First Department of Internal Medicine, Athens University Medical School, Laiko General Hospital, Greece.
Objective:
To determine the degree and the frequency of the nailfold capillary abnormalities and to correlate these with clinicolaboratory variables of Behçets disease.
Methods:
A stereomicroscope was applied to study the nutritional skin capillaries of the nailfolds. Stages 0, A, B and C (Fagrell's classification) were distinguished.
Results:
In 40 healthy subjects capillary abnormalities (stage A) were detected in 7%. In 33 of our patients abnormal nailfold capillary findings (stages A, B, C) were noted in 75%. The stage of capillary abnormalities was significantly correlated with skin manifestations (p = 0.03), arthritis/arthralgia (p = 0.04), and pathergy test (p = 0.04). The correlation between stages 0 and A and eye involvement was not significant (p = 0.08). Disease duration was longer in patients of stage C than in stage 0 but this difference was also not significant (p < 0.10).
Conclusion:
Using a noninvasive method we detected nailfold capillary abnormalities in the majority of our patients.