A new capillaroscopic assessment of microvascular damage vs Maricq classification in patients with isolated Raynaud phenomenon.

: A new classification for microvascular lesions assessment by means of capillaroscopy is proposed in this research. The new method, offering a numerical score for microvascular lesions, was used in patients affected by isolated Raynaud Phenomenon (RP). RP can often be associated with scleroderma and, therefore, the new classification has been compared to the Maricq one for what concerns this connective tissue disorder. The numerical method is as sensitive as that by Maricq, but, as easily expected, its specificity is quite low. It appeared to be satisfactory also the positive predictive value of the new capillaroscopy classification combination with the clinical examination and with the immunologic biohumoral investigation. It is particularly easy to apply this method, as it presents to the examinator a restricted range of answers, for the capillaroscopic picture description, but it needs further studies in different microcirculation damages to be proved definitely valuable.