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(Stroke. 1999;30:2183-2185.)
© 1999 American Heart Association, Inc.

Original Contributions

Intracerebral Calcification in Systemic Sclerosis

Emmanuel Heron, MD; Anne Hernigou, MD; Gilles Chatellier, MD, PhD; Paul Fornes, MD, PhD; Joseph Emmerich, MD, PhD Jean-Noël Fiessinger, MD

From Service de Médecine Vasculaire and Centre Claude Bernard de Recherche sur les Maladies Vasculaires Périphériques (E.H., J.E., J.-N.F.), Service de Radiologie (A.H.), Service d'Informatique Médicale (G.C.), and Service d'Anatomopathologie (P.F.), Hôpital Broussais, Paris, France.

Correspondence to Emmanuel Héron, MD, Service de Médecine Vasculaire, Hôpital Broussais, 96 rue Didot,75674 Paris Cedex 14, France. E-mail emmanuel.heron{at}brs.ap-hop-paris.fr Reprint requests to Professeur Jean-Noël Fiessinger, Service de Médecine Vasculaire, Hôpital Broussais, 96 rue Didot, 75674 Paris Cedex 14, France.

Background and Purpose—Advanced cerebrovascular wall calcification was recently observed at autopsy in 2 patients with systemic sclerosis. To further investigate this issue, we conducted a prospective CT study of scleroderma patients to detect intracerebral calcification.

Methods—Thirty-seven consecutive patients with systemic sclerosis underwent unenhanced brain CT. Images were blindly interpreted, together with those of 2 age-matched (±1 year) and sex-matched control subjects per patient.

Results—Intracerebral calcification was found in 12 patients (32.4%) and 7 controls (9.5%) (P=0.006). Among the patients, intracerebral calcification was associated with the duration of Raynaud's phenomenon (P=0.005) and not with age (P=0.086).

Conclusions—Intracerebral calcification is closely associated with scleroderma, which suggests that scleroderma causes primary cerebrovascular changes.

Key Words: basal ganglia • calcification • scleroderma, systemic • tomography, x-ray computed

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