Active clinical trials for "Scleroderma, Localized"

The primary intent of this study is to add to the body of knowledge on scleroderma patients with interstitial lung disease. While lung disease is recognized as the leading cause of death amongst patients with scleroderma, there is not a large body of literature describing the long-term morbidity and mortality rate of these scleroderma patients. For this reason, the investigators are following participants of the Scleroderma Lung Study (NCT00004563) after their participation in that study was concluded. In addition, the investigators will assess if the subjects who received one year of oral cyclophosphamide in the Scleroderma Lung Study experienced progression of their scleroderma-related lung disease following the end of the study.

This is a mechanistic research study to evaluate the relationship between cough, reflux, and aspiration in patients with systemic sclerosis (scleroderma).

The aim of the study is to compare the exposure to environmental and professional toxics by patients with systemic scleroderma and by patients not achieved by this pathology.

The Scleroderma bioreposiTOry and Pathogenesis Study (STOP Scleroderma) will help researchers use clinical data and human biospecimens to investigate why scleroderma patients develop certain complications from their disease. Patients with confirmed scleroderma, raynauds or positive autoantibodies are invited to participate. This research may help us understand how to prevent and treat scleroderma and other diseases.

The purpose of this trial is to study the proportion of scleroderma patients who suffer from asymptomatic coronary atherosclerosis compared to healthy controls.

Scleroderma is likely caused by a combination of factors, including an external trigger (infection or other exposure) and a genetic predisposition. The Scleroderma Registry will conduct genetic analyses for disease-related genes in patients with scleroderma and their family members (parents, brothers, and sisters).

Patients with scleroderma can develop heart failure due to high blood pressure in the lungs (a condition called pulmonary arterial hypertension). It is important to find pulmonary arterial hypertension early, so that it can be treated before heart failure develops. However, the tests that we now use to find the earliest form of this disease in scleroderma patients are not good enough. This study will examine whether tests performed during exercise can improve our ability to find early pulmonary arterial hypertension. The study will also try to identify genes that are responsible for the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Thirty subjects with systemic sclerosis and 30 age and sex matched controls without any known condition that should cause increased skin hardness in the fingers with undergo examination by manual palpation and durometer measured hardness of their digital tuft skin by 2 observers on 2 separate occasions. There will be 1 hour between individual observer's scorings. Observers will be blinded from the observer's scores and from their previous scores. Results will be tabulated and compared for manual scores versus durometer measurements, intra-observer scores by both methods and inter-observer scores by both methods.

Scleroderma and other rheumatologic conditions can affect the skin. Scleroderma in particular involves skin thickening and hardening. Currently, looking at the degree that the skin is affected by scleroderma is measured based on a combination of a physical exam and a skin biopsy. The researchers propose to measure skin hardness using ultrasound imaging of elasticity. They will use a technique using acoustic radiation force impulse/shear wave velocity imaging , known as ARFI/SVI). The investigators hypothesize that ARFI/SVI may be able to distinguish between normal skin and skin affected by scleroderma.. This tool may also help to quantify the amount of fibrosis in the skin. This type of radiologic biomarker could be used to help confirm the diagnosis of scleroderma.

This study aimed to describe the demographical and clinical characteristics of a retrospective cohort of adult-onset GM and to investigate whether these findings differ between patients with an isomorphic and a symmetric pattern of lesion distribution.