Systemic Sclerosis with Normal or Nonspecific Nailfold Capillaroscopy

BACKGROUND: In systemic sclerosis (SSc), a specific nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) pattern is observed in 90% of cases and seems to be associated with severity and progression of the disease. OBJECTIVE: To describe the characteristics of SSc patients with normal or nonspecific (normal/nonspecific) NVC. METHODS: In a retrospective cohort study, clinical features and visceral involvements of 25 SSc cases with normal/nonspecific NVC were compared to 63 SSc controls with the SSc-specific NVC pattern. RESULTS: Normal/nonspecific NVC versus SSc-specific NVC pattern was significantly associated with absence of skin sclerosis (32 vs. 6.3%, p = 0.004), absence of telangiectasia (47.8 vs. 17.3%, p = 0.006) and absence of sclerodactyly (60 vs. 25.4%, p = 0.002), and less frequent severe pulmonary involvement (26.3 vs. 58.2%, p = 0.017). CONCLUSION: Normal/nonspecific NVC in SSc patients appears to be associated with less severe skin involvement and less frequent severe pulmonary involvement.