Nailfold videocapillaroscopy in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Nailfold videocapillaroscopy was performed in 21 controls (C) and 21 patients (P) with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) classified according to the American College of Rheumatology, with, at least, 1 year of diagnosed disease and having low activity (MEX-SLEDAI) and sequel (SLICC) indexes at the time of the examination, paired by sex and age. Red blood cell velocity (RBCV, mm/s) at rest and after the release of 60s arterial occlusion (RBCVmax, mm/s), time to reach it (TRBCVmax, s), functional capillary density (FCD, number of capillaries /mm2), afferent, apical and efferent capillary diameters (microm) (DAF, DAP and DEF, respectively) were obtained from videotapes analyzed by the CapImage software. The results did not show any significant difference between the groups that were analyzed, suggesting that morphological (capillary diameters) and functional (RBCV, RBCVmax, TRBCVmax and FCD) parameters are not affected by SLE when low activity and sequel indexes of the disease are present.

Nailfold videocapillaroscopy in primary antiphospholipid syndrome (PAPS).

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate microcirculatory changes (functional and morphological) in primary antiphospholipid syndrome (PAPS) patients. METHODS: Thirty-one patients were examined using nailfold videocapillaroscopy (18 PAPS patients and 13 healthy subjects). The patients were subdivided into two subgroups, with lupus anticoagulant (n = 8) and with anticardiolipin (n = 10) antibodies. Capillary morphology was determined; diameters ( micro m) and functional capillary density (FCD, number capillaries/mm2) were measured in control conditions. Blood flow velocity (CBFV, mm/s) was also evaluated at rest and after release of 60 s arterial occlusion. RESULTS: The percentage of subjects with at least one morphological alteration in the observed capillaries was 77.8% for patients and 21.3% for healthy subjects. Capillary diameters ( microm) [afferent (AD), apical (APD) and efferent (ED)] were significantly smaller (mean +/- s.d.: AD-PAPS, 7.4 +/- 2.1; control, 9.1 +/- 2.6, P = 0.063; APD-PAPS, 11.6 +/- 2.3; control, 14.4 +/- 3.8, P = 0.015; ED-PAPS, 8.4 +/- 2.0; control, 10.9 +/- 3.2, P = 0.011) in PAPS patients compared with controls. FCD (PAPS, 8.5 +/- 3.2; control, 8.3 +/- 2.9, P +/- 0.862), mean resting CBFV (PAPS, 0.73 +/- 0.31; control, 0.88 +/- 0.41, P = 0.278), mean peak CBFV after occlusion (PAPS, 1.07 +/- 0.52; control, 1.59 +/- 0.91, P = 0.063) and mean time (s) to reach it (PAPS, 5.2 +/- 1.7; control, 4.6 +/- 1.8, P = 0.101) were not statistically different between the two groups. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that nailfold capillary morphology is altered in patients with PAPS, but these changes could not be correlated to impairment of functional parameters.