Systemic Sclerosis

Introduction Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue disease clinically characterized by different degrees of skin fibrosis and visceral organ involvement (17,19,22). The etiology of SSc remains obscure; the disease appears to be the result of a multistep and multifactorial process, including immune system alterations, genetic and exogenous, and toxic or infectious factors (17,19,22). The epidemiology of SSc is not definitely established due to the relative rarity of the disease, the difficulty in diagnosis, and its extreme clinical variability. SSc affects females more frequently than males, with a peak of incidence between ages 45 and 64 years (19,22). There seems to be an increased incidence of the…