Abstract
Raynaud’s phenomenon is typically the earliest clinical manifestation of systemic sclerosis and is a major cause of disease-related morbidity. The clinical features of Raynaud’s phenomenon are caused by digital ischaemia. Symptoms of Raynaud’s phenomenon include pain, numbness and loss of function. There is a vasospastic component with acute ‘attacks’ but also background digital ischaemic symptoms secondary to the obliterative microangiopathy of scleroderma. Raynaud’s leads to emotional distress, body image dissatisfaction, reduced social participation and impaired quality of life. Management of Raynaud’s phenomenon in systemic sclerosis requires supportive care, patient education and vasodilator therapy. Efforts to prevent or reduce digital ischaemia are valuable in lessening the burden of Raynaud’s symptoms but may also have disease-modifying potential. In this chapter, I shall outline the clinical features of Raynaud’s phenomenon in systemic sclerosis, tools available to assess Raynaud’s severity and considerations around patient management.
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Pauling, J.D. (2021). Raynaud’s Phenomenon. In: Matucci-Cerinic, M., Denton, C.P. (eds) Practical Management of Systemic Sclerosis in Clinical Practice. In Clinical Practice. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-53736-4_7
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