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How much of skin improvement over time in systemic sclerosis is due to normal ageing? A prospective study with shear-wave elastography.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Measurement of skin involvement is essential for the diagnosis and assessment of prognosis and disease progression in systemic sclerosis (SSc). The modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS) is the gold standard measure of skin thickness, but it has been criticised for the lack of objectivity, poor inter-observer reproducibility and lack of sensitivity to change. Recently, shear-wave elastography (SWE) emerged as a promising tool for the objective and quantitative assessment of the skin in SSc patients. However, no studies have evaluated its sensitivity to change over time. OBJECTIVE:To assess changes in skin stiffness in SSc patients using SWE during a 5-year follow-up. METHODS:Skin stiffness [i.e. shear-wave velocity values (SWV) in metres per second] was assessed by SWE ultrasound (using virtual touch image quantification) at the 17 sites of the mRSS, in each participant, at baseline and follow-up. mRSS was performed at both time points. Differences between groups were analysed using the related-samples Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the Mann-Whitney U test. RESULTS:We included 21 patients [85.7% females; mean age 56.3 (10.4) years at baseline, 57.1% with limited SSc] and 15 healthy controls [73.3% females; mean age 53.6 (14.1) years)]. The median follow-up was 4.9 (0.4) years. Skin stiffness decreased significantly at all Rodnan sites (p???0.001) (except in the fingers), in SSc patients, over time. The same phenomenon occurred in controls, but to a lesser degree, in terms of percentage change. The percentage reduction in skin stiffness varied in the different Rodnan sites and in different phases of the disease. In addition, SWV values also decreased significantly in 15/16 skin sites with local normal Rodnan at baseline, whereas local Rodnan skin score only changed significantly in the upper arm (p?=?0.046) and forearm (p?=?0.026). CONCLUSION:This study provides first-time evidence suggesting that skin SWV values are more sensitive to change over time than mRSS and reduce significantly over time in SSc and normal controls.

SUBMITTER: Santiago T

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7079468 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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How much of skin improvement over time in systemic sclerosis is due to normal ageing? A prospective study with shear-wave elastography.

Santiago T T Santiago M M Coutinho M M Salvador M J MJ Da Silva J A P JAP

Arthritis research & therapy 20200318 1

<h4>Background</h4>Measurement of skin involvement is essential for the diagnosis and assessment of prognosis and disease progression in systemic sclerosis (SSc). The modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS) is the gold standard measure of skin thickness, but it has been criticised for the lack of objectivity, poor inter-observer reproducibility and lack of sensitivity to change. Recently, shear-wave elastography (SWE) emerged as a promising tool for the objective and quantitative assessment of the ski ...[more]

PMID: 32188488

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Project description:Thromboembolism in a cerebral blood vessel is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) is one of the emergenc proceduresperformed to remove emboli. However, the interventional approaches such as aspiration catheters or stent retriever are empirically selected. An inappropriate selection of surgical devices can influence the success rate during embolectomy, which can lead to an increase in brain damage. There has been growing interest in the study of clot composition and using a priori knowledge of clot composition to provide guidance for an appropriate treatment strategy for interventional physicians. Developing imaging tools which can allow interventionalists to understand clot composition could affect management and device strategy. In this study, we investigated how clots of different compositions can be characterized by using acoustic radiation force optical coherence elastography (ARF-OCE) and compared with ultrasound shear wave elastography (SWE). Five different clots compositions using human blood were fabricated into cylindrical forms from fibrin-rich (21% red blood cells, RBCs) to RBC-rich (95% RBCs). Using the ARF-OCE and SWE, we characterized the wave velocities measured in the time-domain. In addition, the semi-analytical finite element model was used to explore the relationship between the phase velocities with various frequency ranges and diameters of the clots. The study demonstrated that the wave group velocities generally decrease as RBC content increases in ARF-OCE and SWE. The correlation of the group velocities from the OCE and SWE methods represented a good agreement as RBC composition is larger than 39%. Using the phase velocity dispersion analysis applied to ARF-OCE data, we estimated the shear wave velocities decoupling the effects of the geometry and material properties of the clots. The study demonstrated that the composition of the clots can be characterized by elastographic methods using ARF-OCE and SWE, and OCE demonstrated better ability to discriminate between clots of different RBC compositions, compared to the ultrasound-based approach, especially in clots with low RBC compositions.

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Dataset Information

How much of skin improvement over time in systemic sclerosis is due to normal ageing? A prospective study with shear-wave elastography.

Publications

How much of skin improvement over time in systemic sclerosis is due to normal ageing? A prospective study with shear-wave elastography.

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