Skin biomechanical properties in patients with systemic sclerosis: what parameter should be used?

In systemic sclerosis (SSc), assessment of the skin's elasticity is a key parameter for diagnosis, patient classification and follow-up. The Rodnan score is currently the gold standard, but it suffers from intra-observer and inter-observer variability [1,2]. Skin elasticity has been assessed with cutometry in several clinical studies involving SSc patients, and compared to the Rodnan clinical score [3-5]. In spite of their good conclusions, the lack of standardization in data expression, the large number of parameters provided by the device, and concerns about reproducibility in the hand and the digits limit the use of these tests in routine practice. The primary objective of this study was to describe and compare the intra-day and 7-day reproducibility of biomechanical elastic skin properties in healthy volunteers (HV) and SSc patients. A secondary objective was to assess the correlation between the modified Rodnan score and the Cutometer's parameters of elasticity in SSc patients. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.