Histopathological cutaneous alterations in systemic sclerosis: a clinicopathological study

Table 3 Histological characteristics of patients with lcSSc or dcSSc^a

	Dorsal forearm		Upper inner arm
Histological characteristics	No local skin involvement (n= 24)	Local skin involvement (n= 22)	No local skin involvement (n= 29)	Local skin involvement (n= 16)	Pvalue^b
Mean epidermal pigmentation (± SD)	33 ± 22	37 ± 23	17 ± 18	40 ± 20	NR^c
Mean hyalinised collagen (± SD)	20 ± 21	42 ± 29	11 ± 13	43 ± 33	< 0.001
Mean myofibroblast score (± SD)	1.1 ± 4.9	12 ± 21	0.79 ± 3.8	14 ± 27	0.004
Mean epidermal thickness (± SD)	1.6 ± 0.58	2.3 ± 0.61	1.1 ± 0.51	1.5 ± 0.48	< 0.001
Mean mononuclear cellular infiltration (± SD)	0.89 ± 0.34	1.1 ± 0.38	1.4 ± 0.79	1.9 ± 0.77	0.005
Mean mucin deposition in deep dermis (± SD)	1.7 ± 1.3	2.1 ± 1.4	0.96 ± 0.83	1.5 ± 1.2	0.09
Entrapment of eccrine sweat gland, n (%)	10 (42)	11/21 (52)	8 (28)	6/15 (40)	0.284
Focal exocytosis, n (%)	1 (4.2)	5 (23)	14 (48)	11 (69)	0.043
Loss of adnexae, n (%)	10 (42)	12 (55)	9 (31)	3/15 (20)	0.94
Loss of epidermal papillae, n (%)	10 (42)	5 (23)	1 (3,4)	0 (0)	0.122
Intima proliferation of deep arterioles, n (%)	3 (13)	6 (27)	5 (17)	2/15 (13)	0.596
Parakeratosis, n (%)	0 (0)	3 (14)	0 (0)	0 (0)	NR^d
Pigment incontinence, n (%)	9 (38)	13 (59)	16 (55)	9 (56)	0.141
Telangiectasia in papillary dermis, n (%)	2 (8,3)	0 (0)	0 (0)	0 (0)	NR^d

^alcSSc, limited cutaneous systemic sclerosis; dcSSc, diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis; SD, standard deviation; NR, not reported; ^b generalised estimation equation (GEE) modelling was used to determine the effect of local skin involvement for each variable, correcting for subject level and biopsy site; ^cin the GEE model, the effect of this parameter differed significantly between the skin sites (Student's t-test was used to evaluate the upper inner arm, P < 0.001, and the dorsal forearm, P = 0.580); ^dstatistical testing could not be performed.

ISSN: 1478-6362