Intracerebral Calcification in Systemic Sclerosis

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Advanced cerebrovascular wall calcification was recently observed at autopsy in 2 patients with systemic sclerosis. To further investigate this issue, we conducted a prospective CT study of scleroderma patients to detect intracerebral calcification. METHODS: Thirty-seven consecutive patients with systemic sclerosis underwent unenhanced brain CT. Images were blindly interpreted, together with those of 2 age-matched (+/-1 year) and sex-matched control subjects per patient. RESULTS: Intracerebral calcification was found in 12 patients (32.4%) and 7 controls (9.5%) (P=0.006). Among the patients, intracerebral calcification was associated with the duration of Raynaud's phenomenon (P=0.005) and not with age (P=0.086). CONCLUSIONS: Intracerebral calcification is closely associated with scleroderma, which suggests that scleroderma causes primary cerebrovascular changes.