RESUMO
PURPOSE: To investigate the choroidal thickness in patients with scleroderma and to compare them with healthy control subjects. METHODS: Forty-six patients with scleroderma (3 male and 43 female) and 31 healthy controls (6 male and 25 female) were included in the study. Twenty-five patients had limited-type and 21 patients had diffuse-type scleroderma. Only left eyes of the patients and control subjects were used in the analysis. Demographic features of all the patients and control subjects were recorded. Each subject underwent ophthalmological examinations including refraction, visual acuity, intraocular pressure, axial length (AXL) measurement, slit-lamp biomicroscopy, and fundus examination. Body mass index (BMI) was estimated for all participants. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the patients with scleroderma and the control subjects in terms of age, gender, BMI, mean AXL, and mean spherical equivalent refractive error (SE) (P=0.1, P=0.086, P=0.37, P=0.55, and P=0.072 respectively). The patients with scleroderma had significantly thinner nasal, temporal, and subfoveal choroid than the healthy control subjects (P1=0.012, P2=0.046, and P3<0.001, respectively). There were no significant differences between the patients with limited-type and diffuse-type scleroderma in terms of age, gender, BMI, mean AXL, mean SE, nasal, temporal, and subfoveal choroidal thicknesses (all P>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Choroidal thickness in patients with scleroderma was significantly less than healthy control subjects. Vasculopathy in scleroderma is characterized by obliteration of arterioles and reduced capillary density may cause atrophy of choroid in patients with scleroderma.
Assuntos
Corioide/patologia , Esclerodermia Difusa/complicações , Esclerodermia Limitada/complicações , Adulto , Índice de Massa Corporal , Feminino , Voluntários Saudáveis , Humanos , Pressão Intraocular/fisiologia , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Tamanho do Órgão , Estudos Prospectivos , Refração Ocular/fisiologia , Esclerodermia Difusa/fisiopatologia , Esclerodermia Limitada/fisiopatologia , Tomografia de Coerência Óptica , Acuidade Visual/fisiologiaRESUMO
Rhupus is a rare syndrome characterized by overlap of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Previous reports mentioned that rhupus patients have prominent RA associated clinical manifestations and only mild organic damage related to SLE. Progressive or life-threatening manifestations are rare in rhupus patients. Our patient diagnosed as rhupus was a young women, presented with multi-organ involvement of systemic vasculitis. Rheumatologists should be aware of possibility that rhupus may be accompanied by progressive or life-threatening conditions such as vasculitis.
