Table 1

Clinical characteristics of eleven patients with systemic sclerosis undergoing blood oxygenation level-dependent MRI of the calf muscles

Characteristic

Value

SSc disease characteristics

SSc duration by first non-Raynaud's symptom, mean (years)

5.4, SD 5.0

SSc duration by onset of Raynaud's phenomenon, mean (years)

6.8, SD 6.2

Diffuse cutaneous SSc, n

3

Limited cutaneous SSc, n

5

Other SSc, n

3

Modified Rodnan skin score, median

5, range 1-26

Antinuclear autoantibody positive, n

11

Anti-centromere autoantibodies positive, n

3

Anti-topoisomerase autoantibodies positive, n

5

PM-Scl autoantibodies positive, n

1

Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, mean (mm)

14, SD 12

Muscle parameters

Serum creatine kinase elevation, n

2

Muscle atrophy, n

1

Muscle weakness on manual muscle testing, n

1

Six-minute walk test distance, mean (meters)

449, SD 68

Cardiopulmonary function

Systolic blood pressure, mean (mmHg)

127, SD 17

Diastolic blood pressure, mean (mmHg)

78, SD 11

Systolic pulmonary arterial pressure by echocardiography, mean (mmHg)

23.7, SD 4.4

Forced vital capacity, mean % of normal

91.4, SD 18.6

Diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide, mean % of normal

73.1, SD 26.3

SSc therapy

Patients on prednisone, n

5

Patients on methotrexate, azathioprine, mycophenolate, or cyclophosphamide, n

7

SSc, systemic sclerosis; BOLD, blood oxygenation level-dependent; MRI, magnetic resonance imaging; n, number of patients.

Partovi et al. Arthritis Research & Therapy 2012 14:R209   doi:10.1186/ar4047