Ömer KARADAĞ, Ali AKDOĞAN, Abdulsamet ERDEN, Berkan ARMAĞAN, Levent KILIÇ, Sedat KİRAZ, Esra FIRAT ŞENTÜRK, Alper SARI

Capillaroscopic findings in Turkish Takayasu arteritis patients

Background/aim: Abnormal capillaroscopic findings have been reported in vasculitic syndromes such as Behçet’s disease, Henoch–Schönlein purpura, and Wegener’s granulomatosis. This study was conducted to define the capillaroscopic changes in patients withTakayasu arteritis (TA).Materials and methods: We studied 28 TA patients (27 females). The nail folds from the 2nd to 5th fingers on both hands wereexamined with video capillaroscopy for all. A patient was defined as having an abnormal capillaroscopic examination if more than 1morphologic abnormality was present in at least 2 nail folds.Results: The median capillary density of TA patients was 9 (range: 9–11). There were no patients with capillary disorganization oravascular areas. Tortuous capillaries were detected in all patients. The other common morphological capillary abnormalities includedenlarged/dilated capillaries (39.3%), branching capillaries (35.7%), and hemorrhages (32.1%). Only 1 patient had giant capillaries withearly scleroderma-like pattern. Overall, there were 11 (39.3%) patients with abnormal capillaroscopic findings. There were more patientswith abnormal capillaroscopic findings in the subgroup of TA patients whose upper extremity blood pressure could not be measured ascompared to those whose blood pressure could be measured (66.7% vs. 26.3% patients; P = 0.04).Conclusion: Capillaroscopic abnormalities are frequently seen in TA patients. We consider that abnormal capillaroscopic findings inTA patients reflect the impaired blood flow due to narrowed or occluded arteries rather than the primary capillary involvement of thedisease process.

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