ORAL MICROVASCULAR ABNORMALITIES IN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Microvascular involvement represents one of the first apparent steps in manyautoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Early in the disease,peripheral microangiopathy may be easily recognized and studied by videocapillaroscopy.The aim of this study has been to observe the differences in labialmicrocirculation between healthy patients and patients suffering from RA.A total of 30 healthy patients and 30 patients suffering from RA were examined.The patients with conditions known to compromise microcirculation, such asdiabetes, hypertension, or some pharmacological treatments were not included inthe study. All the patients were non-smokers. Labial capillaroscopy was used toinvestigate the characteristics of microcirculation.Visibility, course, tortuosity, as well as the possible presence of microhemorrhages,the average caliber of the capillary loops and the number of visible capillaryloops per square millimeter were evaluated for each patient.The investigation was simple, non-invasive, and repeatable for each patient.In patients suffering from RA, it was possible to observe a reduced caliber ofcapillaries, as well as greater elongated capillaries, in comparison to controls.This study shows that capillary alterations in patients suffering from RA occur inlabial mucosa microcirculation; such evidence could be extremely important in thediagnosis of suspected RA.