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.