D. Wendling et Jc. Risold, NAILFOLD CAPILLAROSCOPY FINDINGS IN ANKYL OSING-SPONDYLITIS - ABNORMALITIES ARE FREQUENT, WITHOUT DIAGNOSTIC OR PROGNOSIS VALUE, La Revue de medecine interne, 15(7), 1994, pp. 448-451
Vascular involvement is seldom reported in ankylosing spondylitis (AS)
. In this study, microcirculation was evaluated by nailfold capillaros
copy in 32 defined AS patients compared to a control group (C) of 14 s
ciatica. Capillary findings were divided into five groups: normal, min
or dystrophies, edema, microangiopathy, stagnation. Capillaroscopic ab
normalities were more frequent in SA as compared to C, for edema (40%
vs 7%) and microangiopathy (15% vs 0%), P = 0.01. There were neither c
linical nor biological differences between AS patients with and withou
t microangiopathy. Capillaroscopy abnormalities seem frequent in AS an
d may be secondary to an immune complex mechanism.