Page 23 - MRS Abstracts March 2023

pattern of scleroderma,8 7 had an active stage while 3 had Late-stage pattern out of which 1 was late/active stage.
There was a total of 58 normal scans out of which 11 patients were safely discharged by their referring clinician after further clinical assessment and 1 patient was put on PIFU pathway. There were 44 patients with a provisional diagnosis of possible underlying CTD/Secondary Raynaud’s out of which 24 had normal scans, 4 were diagnosed to have scleroderma like pattern while 16 were non-specific.
Fifteen referrals were made for a possible diagnosis of scleroderma, of which10 were consistent with scleroderma pattern, 1 was normal scan and 4 were non-specific. All continue to be followed up. The average waiting time was about 3-4 months. Out of 108 patients, 33 had their procedure done within 0-2 months, 27 had in 3 months, 34 had waiting time of 4-6 months while 10 patients were seen after 6 months.
Conclusions:
Our data showed that capillaroscopy can be a valuable addition in Rheumatology services particularly for CTD Clinics. It can help with the earlier diagnosis of Systemic Sclerosis and in turn help with earlier treatment and intervention.
It can reduce the follow up burden on CTD clinics particularly in the cohort of patients where there is low clinical suspicion based on history, assessment, antibody status and capillaroscopy findings. Such patients can either be discharged with advice or placed on a PIFU pathway.
Our waiting times have been lengthy, with the longest waiting patients referred before the service was up and running. Current waiting times are now less than three months, and a new dedicated clinic is being set up to reduce this further.