Systemic sclerosis in childhood

Abstract

Juvenile systemic sclerosis (jSSc) is a rare disease of childhood, and the amount of published data is limited. It appears that its clinical presentation differs from adult disease and the limited form affects only very few children. The organ involvement pattern differs also from the adult form. Prognosis seems to be better with a 5-yr survival of 95% of the jSSc patients. The validation of the outcome measures for children with jSSc is currently in progress. Regarding effective treatment, there are no paediatric data and the paediatric rheumatologist needs to rely on the experiences in adult disease. © 2006 Oxford University Press.