We are working with Scleroderma Research UK (SRUK) to develop skin sensing technologies to support clinical monitoring in individuals with systemic Scleroderma.
Skin changes associated with Scleroderma are routinely assessed by pinching the skin at multiple sites (fingers, hands, arms, trunk and lower limbs) and grading elasticity on a simple 0 to 3 scale at each site, totalled to give a ‘Rodnan’ Skin Score’. This assessment is cheap and easy but has significant variance due to its subjective nature and limited grading scale.
The team is working to develop simple and cost-effective tools to improve clinical monitoring and offer the potential of self-monitoring strategies to replace the pinch test with an easy, low-cost test for an objective Rodnan assessment.