Al. Herrick et al., VASCULITIS IN PATIENTS WITH SYSTEMIC-SCLEROSIS AND SEVERE DIGITAL ISCHEMIA REQUIRING AMPUTATION, Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, 53(5), 1994, pp. 323-326
Objectives-To document the incidence of histological vasculitis in amp
utation specimens from patients with severe digital ischaemia secondar
y to systemic sclerosis (SSc), and to look for an association between
anticardiolipin (aCL) antibodies and severe digital ischaemia in SSc.
Methods-This was a retrospective review of patients with SSc who under
went amputation for digital ischaemia over a three year period. Result
s-Five of nine patients had histological vasculitis, four of whom had
aCL antibodies, although these were not present in high titre. Conclus
ion-Vasculitis does occur in SSc, at least in that subgroup with sever
e peripheral ischaemia. These findings could have implications for tre
atment of this subgroup of patients with SSc.