Can decreased monocyte to HDL-cholesterol ratio be a marker indicating the anti-inflammatory effect of the colchicine in Behçet's disease? A preliminary study.

Behçet's disease (BD) is an auto-inflammatory disease characterized by systemic vasculitis. Monocyte to HDL-cholesterol ratio (MHR), monocyte to lymphocyte ratio (MLR), and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) are used as inflammatory markers in many disorders. Colchicine decreases inflammation by suppressing the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This study aims to examine the effects of colchicine treatment on MHR, MLR, and NLR levels of the patients with BD. In this study, 80 patients, who were with mild/moderate/severe BD based on the Krause's Clinical Severity Scoring for BD and received colchicine treatment for at least 3 months, were evaluated retrospectively. The results of MHR, MLR, NLR, and other hematological parameters were assessed in three groups as follows: precolchicine treatment (Group 1), at the end of the 1st month of the treatment (Group 2), and at the end of the 3rd month of the treatment (Group 3). A total of 80 patients involving 39 (48.75%) females and 41 (51.25%) males, who were treated with colchicine due to the diagnosis of BD, were examined in this study. The mean age of the patients was 36.85 ± 10.659 (18-59) years. The findings showed that there was a statistically significant reduction in MHR, MLR, and NLR levels of postcolchicine treatment (P = .0004, P = .0007, and P = .0003, respectively). MHR level was 0.015 ± 0.005 in Group 1, 0.013 ± 0.004 in Group 2, 0.011 ± 0.004 in Group 3, while MLR level was 0.346 ± 0.131 in Group 1, 0.277 ± 0.098 in Group 2, 0.229 ± 0.08 in Group 3, and NLR level was 2.528 ± 0.999 in Group 1, 2.001 ± 0.672 in Group 2, 1.704 ± 0.619 in Group 3. A significant association was found between the MHR value of pretreatment and the clinical severity of BD (P = .04). The findings obtained in this study suggest that we can determine the anti-inflammatory impact of colchicine in BD using MHR, MLR, and NLR markers, and MHR can also be a potential index for assessing the disease activity of BD.

Evaluating nail thickness and stiffness with shear-wave elastography in nail psoriasis: A preliminary study.

INTRODUCTION: Psoriasis is a chronic, relapsing skin disease affecting millions of people worldwide. Nail changes have been reported to occur in up to 40% of patients with mild psoriasis and 50%-70% with severe disease. Shear-wave elastography (SWE) is a new non-invasive ultrasonic technique that evaluates thickness and stiffness of tissues. AIMS: To evaluate nail plate thickness and stiffness of patients with psoriasis and determine whether there are differences among psoriatic patients with and without nail involvement, and to investigate the feasibility of using SWE in assessing this disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nail plate thickness and stiffness were investigated in 54 patients with psoriasis and 58 healthy controls. SWE was performed with an Aplio 500 ultrasound system. RESULTS: Increased nail plate thickness was observed more often in the affected nails of psoriatic patients compared to non-affected nails of patients and controls. Stiffness was similar in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: Our study is the first report to evaluate the SWE scores in nail psoriasis. While it may not provide reliable information for diagnosis, it can be used for follow-up treatment.

A preliminary study on ultrasound techniques applied to cicatricial alopecia.

BACKGROUND: Cicatricial alopecia (CA) is a group of disorder characterized by permanent destruction of the hair follicle. Shear wave elastography (SWE) and superb microvascular imaging (SMI) are noninvasive ultrasonic techniques which evaluate thickness, stiffness, and vascular index of tissues. OBJECTIVES: This study explored the ranges of cicatricial alopecia area and normal scalp with a combined modality of SMI and SWE and investigated the feasibility of their use in assessing these diseases. METHODS: Seventeen patients diagnosed with CA and twenty healthy controls were included in the study. SWE and SMI were performed with an Aplio 500 ultrasound system. RESULTS: The mean age of patient group was 37.00 ± 13.16, and the mean age of the healthy controls were 36.00 ± 11.79. SWE results as m/s in cicatricial plaques ( x ¯  = 5191) were higher than non-alopecic scalp areas ( x ¯  = 4460) in patient group (t (16) = 2260; P = 0.038 < 0.05). SMI values in patient group (cicatricial plaques) ( x ¯  = 1200) were significantly higher than control group SMI values ( x ¯  = 0.005) (t (35) = 3.075; P = 0.012 < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate SWE and SMI scores in cicatricial alopecia. We found higher stiffness and vascularity in patient group. We conclude that SWE and SMI can show fibrosis and inflammation like previous studies. Especially, SWE as m/s is more sensitive than as kPa for cicatricial alopecia.