Assessment of fingertip's microcirculation changes in patients with systemic sclerosis by E-flow imaging / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical value of high frequency ultrasonography with E-flow imaging in the evaluation of fingertip's microcirculation changes in patients with systemic sclerosis(SSc).Methods Twenty-four SSc patients and 29 healthy subjects were involved.High frequency ultrasonography with E-flow imaging was used to observe the configuration and distribution of digital arteries in the last segment of left and right middle finger.Peak systolic velocity (PSV),end diastolic velocity (EDV),mean velocity(MV),vascular resistance index (RI) and pulsatility index(PI) of digital palmar propria arteries,nail bed arteries and finger ventral arteries were measured.Results In control group,rich blood supply was revealed within the fingertips.Digital palmar propria arteries,nail bed arteries and finger ventral arteries and their small branches were displayed clearly and continuously by E-flow imaging.While in SSc patients,the definition and continuity of fingertip's small vascular flow images were not as good as that in the control group,with the distribution of blood flow markedly reduced.compared with the control group,PSV,EDV and MV of digital palmar propria arteries,nail bed arteries,finger ventral arteries were decreased in SSc group(P＜0.01),but both RI and PI were increased(P＜0.05).There were no statistically significant differences between left and right fingertip's arteries index in normal control group (P＞0.05).But PSV,EDV and MV of left digital palmar propria arteries in SSc group were higher than that of the right(P＜0.05),whose differences bear statistic significance.Conclusions High frequency ultrasonography with E-flow imaging is sensitive and reliable to reflect fingertip's microcirculation changes and provide a new method to assess microvascular changes in SSc patients.