Advances in vascular medicine vascular disease in scleroderma

Scleroderma is a severe systemic disorder affecting 240 per million of population, characterized by fibrosis of the skin and internal organs, by autoimmune phenomena, and by vascular injury (for review, see). Scleroderma patients form a heterogeneous group with a very wide spectrum of disease severity. In the most mildly affected individuals, Raynaud's phenomenon and barely noticeable skin thickening may be the only manifestations of the disease. At the opposite end of the disease spectrum are patients with total skin encasement and life-threatening pulmonary, cardiac, or renal complications. © 2010 Springer-Verlag London.