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Medical Health Encyclopedia
Scleroderma - Diagnosis
From Healthscout's partner site on heart disease, HealthCentral.com
(Page 2) UltrasoundHigh frequency ultrasound may be used to detect the effects of scleroderma in patients' hands. Diagnosing Systemic ComplicationsDiagnosing Lung Complications. Changes in the lungs may occur early in scleroderma lung disease, and prompt treatment is very important to prevent complications. For this reason, once a diagnosis is made, the doctor will check for lung changes:
![]() Right heart catheterization involves the passage of a catheter (a thin flexible tube) into the right side of the heart to obtain diagnostic information about the heart and for continuous monitoring of heart function in critically ill patients.
Diagnosing Heart Complications. Patients with suspected heart complications should have the following tests:
Advanced imaging techniques, which provide a more detailed picture of the heart, may also be useful to determine the extent of heart complications in scleroderma patients. Diagnosing Pulmonary Hypertension. Echocardiography is a noninvasive imaging technique for detecting pulmonary hypertension, a common and life-threatening complication of scleroderma. (A non-invasive procedure is one where no materials or equipment are put into the body.) To confirm the diagnosis, doctors sometimes use an invasive procedure called right-heart catheterization. However, a newer, noninvasive technique called cardiac MRI is now becoming available at many centers. Studies have shown that cardiac MRI is more accurate than either echocardiography or right heart catheterization. | ||||
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