Assessment of vascular involvement.

Our objective was to identify a core set of variables for the assessment of vascular involvement in scleroderma that is simple, reproducible, and reflects the presence of vascular disease in SSc. To do so we carried out an extensive literature review of published studies relating to the assessment of vascular involvement in SSc, i.e. studies dealing with clinical parameters, functional vascular studies, cold presser testing, nailfold capillary microscopy and circulating vascular markers. After extensive review of published studies and critical assessment of proposed vascular parameters, the subcommittee endorsed what it considers to be the minimal requirements for the documentation of vascular involvement in SSc. The core set variables include two parameters: Raynaud's phenomenon and digital ulcers. This set is simple, reproducible and should be included in the assessment of SSc patients in clinical investigational studies. The subcommittee also however recognizes that there exists a promising set of vascular variable that still needs further investigation.