Sublingual microcirculatory alterations in patients with stable systemic sclerosis

Abstract Introduction Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a systemic autoimmune disease characterized by fibrosis, inflammation, and microcirculatory alterations. Objective To evaluate abnormalities in the sublingual microcirculation of SSc patients and to establish any differences compared to healthy controls. Methods The sublingual microcirculation was determined using a Sidestream dark-field (SDF) imaging device (MicroScan; MicroVision Medical, Amsterdam, the Netherlands) in patients with SSc and controls. Results Twelve patients with SSc (75% with diffuse cutaneous SSc) were evaluated (mean age: 52.08 ± 2.08 years). A group of 20 volunteers was used as the control. Significantly lower total capillary density (TCD) (9.2 [8.5–9.7] vs. 10.9 [9.8–12.5]) and functional capillary density (FCD) (7.0 [6.8–7.5] vs. 8.6 [7.5–9.8]) were observed in SSc patients than in healthy controls. Conclusions SSc is related to significantly lower capillary density in the sublingual microcirculation, and the SDF imaging technique could be an alternative to nailfold videocapillaroscopy for diagnosing and following-up patients with SSc.