Abstract
Microvascular involvement in systemic inflammatory diseases has been well known more than one hundred years. Abnormal microangiopathy of nailfold often occurs in systemic rheumatic diseases, especially in scleroderma, Raynaud's phenomenon and related conditions. Nailfold capillaroscopy uses a lens that allows analysis of the capillary morphology and microcirculation of nailfold. Recently, the video-base or computer-base system of capillaroscopy is developed and it is used as a noninvasive, simple, repeatable, highly sensitive and inexpensive method of evaluating microvascular abnormalities in rheumatic diseases. This review stresses the importance and advantages of NFC for investigating microvascular morphological patterns and their clinical correlations in rheumatic diseases.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 238-247 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Journal of Internal Medicine of Taiwan |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| State | Published - 06 2009 |
Keywords
- Nailfold capillaroscopy
- Raynaud's phenomenon
- Systemic sclerosis