Systemic sclerosis & Raynaud's
Influence of contextual factors and reliability of ultrasound skin measures in persons with systemic sclerosis and healthy controls
Authors' conclusion
The timing of the ultrasound procedure within each day seems to influence the ultrasound measures at the legs and feet. Our study corroborates that ultrasound dermal thickness and skin stiffness are reliable domains to quantify skin involvement in SSc.
Study context
- Population
- Persons with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and healthy controls; US dermal thickness (B-mode, 18MHz) and skin stiffness (shear-wave elastography, 9MHz) at the 17 skin Rodnan sites
- Participants
- 20 vs 20
- Comparison
- Contextual factors on US dermal thickness and skin stiffness
- SScn = 20
- Healthy controlsn = 20reference
Methodological detailsrepeated measures, inter- and intra-rater reliability, related-samples Wilcoxon signed-rank test
- Repeated measures
- Inter- and intra-rater reliability
- Related-samples Wilcoxon signed-rank test
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- Significant increase in US dermal thickness at the leg in the afternoon vs morning, in both SSc and controls
- Similar increase in skin stiffness in the afternoon at the leg (SSc) and at the foot (SSc and controls)
- No significant changes with room temperature and menstrual cycle
- Intra- and inter-rater reliability good to excellent for US dermal thickness and stiffness, in SSc and healthy controls
Original publication
Influence of contextual factors and reliability of ultrasound skin measures in persons with systemic sclerosis and healthy controls. Clin Exp Rheumatol. Published 25 November 2022. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →