Reporting items for capillaroscopy in clinical research on musculoskeletal diseases: a systematic review and international Delphi consensus

Abstract

Objectives The level of detail included when describing nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) methods varies among research studies, making interpretation and comparison of results challenging. The overarching objective of the present study was to seek consensus on the reporting standards in NVC methodology for clinical research in rheumatic diseases and to propose a pragmatic reporting checklist. Methods Based on the items derived from a systematic review focused on this topic, a three-step web-based Delphi consensus on minimum reporting standards in NVC was performed among members of the European League against Rheumatism (EULAR) Study Group on Microcirculation in Rheumatic Diseases and the Scleroderma Clinical Trials Consortium. Results A total of 319 articles were selected by the systematic review, and 46 items were proposed in the Delphi process. This Delphi exercise was completed by 80 participants from 31 countries, including Australia and countries within Asia, Europe, North America and South America. Agreement was reached on items covering three main areas: patient preparation before NVC (15 items), device description (5 items) and examination details (13 items). Conclusion Based on the available evidence, the description of NVC methods was highly heterogeneous in the identified studies and differed markedly on several items. A reporting checklist of 33 items, based on practical suggestions made (using a Delphi process) by international participants, has been developed to provide guidance to improve and standardize the NVC methodology to be applied in future clinical research studies.

Nailfold capillaroscopy changes with disease activity in patients with inflammatory myositis including overlap myositis, pure dermatomyositis, and pure polymyositis

“…The whole NFC findings were defined as: normal, scleroderma pattern, or non-specific abnormalities [ 18 ] and the international Delphi consensus for reporting the data [ 19 ].…”

Nailfold capillaroscopy for the early diagnosis of the scleroderma spectrum of diseases in patients without Raynaud’s phenomenon

“…Patient preparation before NFC, description of device and examination details were performed according to the international consensus on standardization of reporting capillaroscopy. 12 Patients were acclimatized for at least 20 min at a room temperature of 22 C–25 C, and NFC was not performed during an RP attack. Information that may affect NFC image acquisition was obtained, specifically physical activities, dominant hand, medications, recent finger trauma and history of digital ulcers.…”

National consensus for capillaroscopy in rheumatology

“…Objectives: This study was designed to propose a simple fast track algorithm to differentiate scleroderma patterns from nonscleroderma patterns and to assess its interobserver reliability. Methods: During the 8th EULAR course on capillaroscopy held in Genoa, September 2018, a lecture on teaching the fast tract algorithm to categorise an image as non-scleroderma (category 1Smith et al, 2019b; Smith et al, 2020), консeнсус относно принципи на провеждане на капиляроскопското изследване (Ingegnoli et al, 2020a;Ingegnoli et al, 2020b). Значителният напредък в съвременното познание за капиляроскопските промени при ревматични заболявания и тяхната интерпретация, както и все по-широкото приложение на методиката са в основата на необходимостта да се обобщят световният и собственият опит в настоящия консенсус относно приложението на капиляроскопията в ревматологията.…”

“…В опит да се унифицира начинът на документиране на резултатите от капиляроскопското изследване са приети два консенсуса, базирани, на метода Delphi на групата към EULAR за изучаване на микроциркулацията, относно представяне на резултатите при клинични капиляроскопски проучвания от 2020 г. (Ingegnoli et al, 2020a;Ingegnoli et al, 2020b) (табл. 1 -продължение) и на Панамериканска лига на дружествата по ревматология (PANLAR/Pan-American League of Associations for Rheumatology) от 2019 г. за съдържанието на фиша с описание на резултата от капиляроскопското изследване (табл.…”