[Sclerodermal microangiopathy: a cause or a consequence?].

Microangiopathy is an essential clinicopathological feature of systemic scleroderma, comprising capillary thinning, thickening of the basement membrane and abnormalities of the endothelium which has an abnormally high uptake of radioactive thymidine. The identification of a circulating cytotoxic factor for endothelial cells suggests that the microangiopathy may play a role in the physiopathogenesis of the disease. In practice, microangiopathy can be fully assessed by capillaroscopy in patients with systemic scleroderma.