Abstract
We report two cases of diabetic digital sclerosis, which we believe to be the first report in Japanese. Case l was a 62-year-old male who had had insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus for 20 years. Case 2 was a 69-year-old male who had had insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus for 40 years. Both cases showed digital sclerosis and limited joint mobility, but neither Raynaud’s phenomenon, nail phenomenon, nail fold bleeding, increased collagen fibers in the dermis pathologically. Immunological studies in the two cases revealed that anti-nuclear antibodies, anti-centromere antibodies, anti-Scl-70 andtibodies and anti-RNP antibodies were all negative. In differentiating these cases from other diseases which have sclerodactylia, we considered that most important background condition was diabetes mellitus. previous reports, which are few and written in English, have suggested that digital sclerosis is found in 18~34% patients with diabetes melitus. Since this disroder is not well to dermatologists in Japan, we insist that this rather common dermatosis with diabetes mellitus should be widely recognized as an important differential diagnosis of systemic sclerosis and its related disorders.
