Nailfold Capillaroscopy in Rheumatic Diseases

Abstract

Nailfold capillaroscopy (NFC) has developed into an indispensable tool for rheumatologists in the evaluation of rheumatic diseases. It offers various advantages in being rapid, noninvasive, and inexpensive. With NFC we are able to visualize the microcirculatory changes in the nail beds. These changes are key to the pathogenesis of connective tissue diseases such as systemic sclerosis. Hence NFC helps in early diagnosis of various connective tissue diseases. There is a lack of standardization in the techniques used and various capillary parameters studied, which could lead to variation in the reporting of the parameters studied. In this chapter we shall try to highlight the most common parameters studied in capillaroscopy and its utility in various connective tissue diseases.