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Aortic root dilation in associated with the reduction in capillary density observed at nailfold capillaroscopy in SSc patients

  • Perspectives in Rheumatology
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Abstract

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease characterized by endothelial dysfunction and fibroblasts activation. Microvascular disease may be easily observed by means of nailfold capillaroscopy. Recent evidences emphasized also the involvement of large-medium arteries in SSc, mainly in terms of increased stiffness of the vessel wall. The study aims to measure aortic root diameter in a cohort of SSc patients and to correlate echocardiographic findings with the capillaroscopic pictures. We analyzed the clinical records of 125 consecutive SSc patients (M/F 14/111, mean age 55 ± 12.7 years, median disease duration 11 years) referring in 3 second-level rheumatology centers. All subjects underwent to heart ultrasound evaluation and videocapillaroscopic evaluation. At capillaroscopy, the patients with early SSc pattern belonged to the subgroup 1, while those with the active/late patterns (characterized by the reduction of capillary density) belonged to the subgroup 2. We found aortic root dilation in 8 (6.4%) SSc patients, with a mean value of 37.8 ± 1.2 mm (range 37–40 mm). Aortic root dilation was observed in only one patient in the subgroup 1 (1/62, 1.6%) and in 7 cases of the subgroup 2 (7/63, 11.1%; p = 0.03). Our study found a significant association between aortic root dilation and impairment of capillary density at nailfold videocapillaroscopy in SSc patients. We hypothesize that SSc-related microangiopathy revealed by nailfold videocapillaroscopy could mimic that of aortic vasa vasorum, contributing to deteriorate the aortic wall structure and favoring aortic root dilation and stiffening.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rheumatology Centre, Internal Medicine Unit, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, c/o Azienda Ospedaliera per l’Emergenza Cannizzaro, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

    Michele Colaci, Ylenia Dal Bosco, Claudia Schinocca & Domenico Sambataro

  2. Cardiology Unit, Ospedale “S. Vincenzo”, Taormina, Italy

    Giuseppe Ronsivalle

  3. Rheumatology Unit, Policlinico “P. Giaccone”, Università di Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Giuliana Guggino

  4. Rheumatology Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera di Rilievo Nazionale ed Alta Specializzazione “Garibaldi”, Catania, Italy

    Ilenia De Andres & Alessandra A. Russo

  5. Artroreuma srl, Outpatient Clinic of Rheumatology associated with the National Health System, Corso S. Vito 53, 95030, Catania, Italy

    Gianluca Sambataro

  6. Internal Medicine Unit, Azienda Ospedaliera per l’Emergenza Cannizzaro, University of Catania, Catania, Italy

    Lorenzo Malatino

Authors
  1. Michele Colaci
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  2. Ylenia Dal Bosco
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  3. Claudia Schinocca
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  10. Lorenzo Malatino
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Correspondence to Michele Colaci.

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Colaci, M., Dal Bosco, Y., Schinocca, C. et al. Aortic root dilation in associated with the reduction in capillary density observed at nailfold capillaroscopy in SSc patients. Clin Rheumatol 40, 1185–1189 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-020-05201-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-020-05201-5

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