Ihn H, Shimozuma M, Fujimoto M, Sato S, Kikuchi K, Igarashi A, Soma Y, Tamaki K, Takehara K
Department of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Br J Rheumatol. 1995 Jun;34(6):535-8. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/34.6.535.
Sclerotic skin change in systemic sclerosis (SSc) usually accompanies increased skin thickness. In order to quantify the cutaneous changes and to clarify the changes in the 'uninvolved' skin in systemic sclerosis (SSc), we measured the skin thickness on the chest, the forearms and the hands of 79 patients with SSc and 81 healthy controls with a B-mode ultrasound (30 MHz) apparatus. The thickness of the 'uninvolved', as well as the 'involved' skin in patients with SSc was significantly greater than that of healthy controls. Increased skin thickness on the forearms and/or the hands showed a 64.6% sensitivity and a 100% specificity for SSc. These results indicated that the skin which appears to be 'uninvolved' in patients with SSc is already pathologic, as shown by increased thickness. Moreover, measurement of skin thickness may be beneficial in the diagnosis of this disease at an early stage.
系统性硬化症（SSc）中的皮肤硬化改变通常伴随着皮肤厚度增加。为了量化皮肤变化并阐明系统性硬化症（SSc）中“未受累”皮肤的变化，我们使用B型超声（30MHz）仪器测量了79例SSc患者和81名健康对照者胸部、前臂和手部的皮肤厚度。SSc患者“未受累”以及“受累”皮肤的厚度均显著大于健康对照者。前臂和/或手部皮肤厚度增加对SSc的敏感性为64.6%，特异性为100%。这些结果表明，SSc患者中看似“未受累”的皮肤已经发生病理改变，表现为厚度增加。此外，测量皮肤厚度可能有助于早期诊断这种疾病。
