Background: There have been no reports of patients with sclerosing panniculitis and systemic sclerosis (SSc).
Objectives: To evaluate the incidence of sclerosing panniculitis in patients with SSc, and to investigate the clinical features of such cases.
Methods: In total, 128 patients with SSc treated at our clinic were investigated retrospectively.
Results: SSc patients with sclerosing panniculitis had pulmonary hypertension (PH), especially isolated PH, at a significantly higher incidence than those without. Among the SSc patients with PH, those with sclerosing panniculitis had pulmonary infarctions at a higher incidence than those without.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that thrombosis caused by venous hypertension of the leg may be the main cause of PH in patients with SSc and sclerosing panniculitis. Sclerosing panniculitis may be a useful marker of PH in patients with SSc.