ACR Meeting Abstracts

ACR Meeting Abstracts

Abstract Number: 1642

Automated Nailfold Capillary Counting System (AUTOCAPI) in Systemic Sclerosis Patients with Different Capillaroscopic Patterns

Alberto Sulli1, Amber Vanhaecke 2, Carmen Pizzorni 3, Giorgia Ferrari 4, Veronica Tomatis 5, Monica Pendolino 4, Vanessa Smith 6 and Maurizio Cutolo 4, 1Research Laboratory and Academic Division of Clinical Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genova, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genoa, Italy, Genoa, Italy, 2Dept. of Rheumatology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium; Dept. of Internal Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium, Ghent, Belgium, 3Research Laboratory and Academic Division of Clinical Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genova, IRCCS San Martino Polyclinic Hospital, Genoa, Italy, Genoa, Italy, 4Research Laboratory and Academic Division of Clinical Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genova, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genoa, Italy, Genoa, Italy, 5Research Laboratory and Academic Division of Clinical Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Genova, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino, Genova, Italy, Genoa, Italy, 6Dept. of Rheumatology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent, Belgium; Dept. of Internal Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium; Unit for Molecular Immunology and Inflammation, VIB Inflammation Research Center (IRC), Ghent, Belgium, Gent, Belgium

Meeting: 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting

Keywords:

Session Information

Date: Monday, November 11, 2019

Title: Systemic Sclerosis & Related Disorders – Clinical Poster II

Session Type: Poster Session (Monday)

Session Time: 9:00AM-11:00AM

Background/Purpose: Nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) allows assessment of possible microvascular markers of severity and progression in systemic sclerosis (SSc), such as reduced capillary number, which has been associated with a high risk of developing disease complications (1-2). An automated capillary counting system (AUTOCAPI) has recently been validated in SSc patients (3). The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of this automated software for absolute nailfold capillary number counting, in SSc patients with different NVC patterns of microangiopathy (Early, Active, and Late).

Methods: 183 SSc patients were random collected and enrolled at both Genova and Ghent Divisions of Rheumatology (LeRoy 2001 or ACR 2013 criteria, mean age 55±13 year, mean disease duration 5.5±6.8 years) and classified by NVC in one the following patterns: 28 “not specific”, 37 “Early”, 89 “Active”, 29 “Late”) (4). Eight fingers for each patient were analysed, counting the number of nailfold capillaries manually and by the AUTOCAPI software (DS Medica, Italy) along a millimetre in each finger image (3). The mean capillary number value from the eight finger images was calculated. The software reliability was assessed through calculation of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between automatic and manual counting.

Results: The mean number of capillaries assessed by manual vs automatic counting was as follows: 5.23±1.7 vs 5.47±1.3 in the total group of SSc patients, 5.91±1.2 vs 6.87±1.2 in the “not specific”, 7.23±1.4 vs 5.67±1.1 in the “early”, 4.67±1.1 vs 5.16±1.2 in the “active” and 3.72±1.5 vs 4.85±1.1 in the “Late” pattern of microangiopathy.The higher standard deviation observed for automatic counting was 1.23 in the “not specific” group. The following ICC’s were obtained respectively for total patients, “not specific”, “Early”, “Active”, and “Late” NVC patterns: 0.53, 0.51, 0.48, 0.50 and 0.66. The mean values for the manual versus automatic capillary counting assessed by the two centres in all SSc patients were respectively: 5.92±1.8 and 5.02±1.1 for Genova centre, and 4.71±1.5 and 5.83±1.4 for Ghent centre. The automatic counting confirmed that capillary number progressively reduces from “Early” to “Active” to “Late” NVC pattern of microangiopathy in SSc.

Conclusion: This study demonstrates the good reliability of AUTOCAPI software in nailfold capillary number counting in SSc patients with different patterns of microangiopathy. The use of automated counting software allows to standardize nailfold capillary assessment among different Rheumatologic centres. 

References. 1. Cutolo M, et al. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2016;68:2527-39.  2. Smith V, et al. J Rheumatol. 2013;40:2023-8.  3. Cutolo M, et al. Microcirculation. 2018;25:e12447.  4. Sulli A, et al, Arthritis Rheum 2012;64:821-5.

Disclosure: A. Sulli, None; A. Vanhaecke, None; C. Pizzorni, None; G. Ferrari, None; V. Tomatis, None; M. Pendolino, None; V. Smith, None; M. Cutolo, Boehringer, Actelion, Celgene, Bristol-Mayer Squibb, 2.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Sulli A, Vanhaecke A, Pizzorni C, Ferrari G, Tomatis V, Pendolino M, Smith V, Cutolo M. Automated Nailfold Capillary Counting System (AUTOCAPI) in Systemic Sclerosis Patients with Different Capillaroscopic Patterns [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2019; 71 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/automated-nailfold-capillary-counting-system-autocapi-in-systemic-sclerosis-patients-with-different-capillaroscopic-patterns/. Accessed .

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