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Rheumatologists Find Nailfold Capillaroscopy an Increasingly Useful Diagnostic Tool

  |  Issue: October 2017  |  

Hopefully, nailfold capillaroscopy will allow researchers to assess whether early interventions with available vascular remodeling drugs may be able to help prevent disease progression in early SSc.8 As new drugs become available, videocapillaroscopy in particular may provide a powerful research tool to help assess treatment response at all stages of disease for this illness that is currently so difficult to treat.

Ruth Jessen Hickman, MD, is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Medicine. She is a freelance medical and science writer living in Bloomington, Ind.

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References

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  14. Trombetta AC, Pizzorni C, Ruaro B, et al. Effects of longterm treatment with bosentan and iloprost on nailfold absolute capillary number, fingertip blood perfusion, and clinical status in systemic sclerosis. J Rheumatol. 2016 Nov;43(11):2033–2041.
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