Scleroderma Care

Our multispecialty team of scleroderma experts provides comprehensive, personalized care. We work together to create well-rounded treatment plans that help you achieve your best health.

一位女士递过来一张白色的底色
病人和医生的手

为什么选择UCLA健康中心治疗硬皮病?

Specialists in the UCLA Health Scleroderma Program provide state-of-the-art diagnosis and treatment for scleroderma, a rare disease that causes inflammation and scarring in the skin or internal organs.

Our program is one of the largest referral centers in the world for scleroderma patients. It has also been a designated Scleroderma Center of Excellence with the Scleroderma Foundation for many years. This recognition underscores our commitment to comprehensive, high-quality scleroderma care.

我们课程的亮点包括:

Multispecialty团队: 一组专家一起为您服务. 你的治疗可能包括风湿病专家的护理, pulmonologist, gastroenterologist, radiologist, cardiologist 或者血液科医生,这取决于你的需要.

协调处理: Our dedicated care coordinator schedules all your specialist appointments so you don’t have to worry about coordinating visits with multiple specialists. We aim to schedule all necessary specialist visits within one-to-two days so that you have convenient, 有效获得医疗服务.

个性化、全人护理: Our specialists aim to understand all the factors that affect your overall wellness. With this knowledge, we can make recommendations for lifestyle changes to improve your health. A nutritionist specializing in scleroderma makes diet recommendations to help you manage symptoms or medication side effects. 在某些情况下,这些变化甚至可以逆转疾病的影响. 我们根据需要提供冥想、瑜伽和其他综合服务.  

Research emphasis: 皇冠hga025大学洛杉矶分校的健康专家是活跃的研究人员和临床提供者. We lead and participate in multiple scleroderma studies sponsored by the National Institutes of Health. 符合条件的患者可以接受最新的、最先进的治疗方案.

获得支持资源: 我们为硬皮病患者举办支持小组, 这样你就可以和有类似经历的人联系起来. 无论你住在南皇冠hga025还是其他地方, 我们的团队帮助您与当地皇冠hga020电脑版的支持性资源建立联系.

What is scleroderma?

Scleroderma is a rare autoimmune condition that causes inflammation or scarring (fibrosis) in your skin and internal organs. Autoimmune conditions occur when your immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues or body systems. 硬皮病的早期症状通常包括疲劳, 手部肿胀和雷诺氏现象, color changes in your hands that develop in response to cold temperatures or stress.

硬皮病会影响多个器官系统,包括:

Skin: 大多数硬皮病患者都会经历影响他们的 skin. 最常见的症状是雷诺氏现象. 你的皮肤也可能变厚或变紧. Calcium deposits beneath the skin may appear as white spots that can press through the skin.

Lungs: Scleroderma can cause inflammation and scarring in lung tissue (pulmonary fibrosis or 间质性肺病). 结果,你的肺部僵硬,无法吸入足够的氧气. The condition may also cause blood vessel changes that increase blood pressure in your lungs (pulmonary hypertension).

胃肠道: 你的食道可能有问题,导致胃灼热, 胃酸倒流或吞咽困难. Scleroderma may also affect the stomach, making you feel full after eating only a small amount. 小肠或大肠问题可引起腹泻, constipation, 营养吸收不良, gas and bloating. You may experience problems with bowel movements, including fecal incontinence.  

Kidneys: 硬皮病会引起血管的问题 kidneys导致血液流动受限. When this happens, 你的血压可能升高了, 腿部肿胀,肾脏滤过不良, 称为硬皮病肾危象.

Heart: Scarring or fibrosis may also affect the heart muscle, causing heart rhythm problems (arrhythmias). You may feel like your heart is pounding (heart palpitations) or experience shortness of breath or chest pain.

肌肉骨骼系统: 硬皮病会引起关节和肌肉问题. 你的皮肤和肌腱可能会变厚, 这会使关节难以完全伸展(关节挛缩). 其他症状包括关节或肌肉炎症、肿胀和僵硬.

我们提供硬皮病测试和治疗

Our multispecialty team offers the full range of scleroderma tests and treatment options. We comprehensively evaluate your symptoms and needs and find an effective treatment plan for you.

Scleroderma tests

Depending on what body systems scleroderma affects, your evaluation may include:

Skin tests: Your provider may physically examine you for signs of skin tightening or hardness. You may also have blood tests that assess your chances of developing further skin symptoms.

Lung tests: We may use imaging tests such as CT scans to look for lung scarring or inflammation. 我们也可以做肺功能检查. You breathe into special tubes to help us evaluate how breath moves in and out of your lungs. A heart ultrasound (echocardiogram) may help us evaluate blood pressure in the lungs. 你可能还需要心导管检查. For this procedure, 您的提供者插入了一个灵活的, hollow tube (catheter) through a blood vessel and guides it to your heart to measure pressure in your pulmonary arteries.

胃肠(GI)检查: Your provider may evaluate the inside of your intestines with a lighted scope called an endoscope. 取决于你的症状, we may use manometry to evaluate how your esophageal muscles contract to move food. 食道是连接喉咙和胃的管道. We may also use gastric emptying studies or other additional tests to see how food moves through your digestive system.

Kidney tests: You may have blood tests to evaluate how well your kidneys filter waste from your body. 如果你有高血压, 你的医生也可能会要求你每天在家检查血压.

Heart tests: 如果硬皮病影响你的心脏, you may have an echocardiogram to look at your heart’s structures and blood vessels. You may also have an electrocardiogram (ECG), which evaluates your heart rhythm. 如果你的医生怀疑你的心脏周围有炎症, 他们可能会要求做心脏核磁共振, 用磁铁和无线电波来观察你的心脏.

肌肉骨骼测试: Your provider performs a full physical exam to evaluate tenderness or swelling in your joints. They may order blood tests to look for inflammation or take an MRI of affected muscles or joints.

硬皮病的治疗方法

硬皮病治疗的目标是减缓和, in some cases, 逆转疾病的发展. 根据您的症状,您的治疗可能包括:

Lifestyle changes: 量身定制的营养指导可能有助于改善你的健康和生活质量. 饮食的改变可能有助于降低炎症, 减轻胃肠道症状或控制药物副作用.

Medications: Many people with scleroderma take medications to reduce inflammation and scarring or suppress the immune system. We recommend the right medications for you and adjust them if your needs change.

干细胞或器官移植: 在某些情况下,我们可能会建议进行干细胞或器官移植. 干细胞移植用健康细胞代替骨髓, 哪一种能增加你身体产生健康红细胞的能力, 白细胞和血小板. 器官移植用捐赠者的健康器官代替受损的器官. 了解更多皇冠hga025的移植服务.

Meet our team

Our scleroderma specialists are renowned experts in scleroderma diagnosis and treatment. We bring you leading-edge therapies and advanced treatments backed by research. We also make recommendations for lifestyle changes to help you live a healthier life.

Cardiology

Contact us

Call 310-825-2448 要求预约皇冠hga025大学洛杉矶分校健康中心的硬皮病专家.

Find your care

Our scleroderma specialists are dedicated to high-quality, research-based care. Call 310-825-2448 了解更多皇冠hga025的硬皮病服务.

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