Penile cutaneous temperature in systemic sclerosis: A thermal imaging study

Systemic Sclerosis is a connective tissue disorder featuring vascular alterations and an immunological activation leading to a progressive and widespread fibrosis of several organs such as the skin, lung, gastrointestinal tract, heart and kidney. Moreover men with systemic sclerosis (SSc) present an increased risk of developing erectile dysfunction (ED). Recently, we evaluated the extent of penile vascular damage in sclerodermic patients using Duplex ultrasonography. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether penile thermal differences exist between sclerodermic patients and healthy controls. For this reason 10 men with SSc receiving current treatment for their disease, and 10 healthy controls were enroled; penile thermal properties were assessed through non-contact thermal imaging (functional Infra Red Imaging fIRI); erectile function was evaluated using the sexual health inventory for men (SHIM) questionnaire. The SHIM results confirmed the presence of ED in sclerodermic patients. Baseline penile temperature in patients (32.1 +/- 1.4 degrees C) was lower than in controls (34.1 +/- 0.9 degrees C). Recovery from cooling test was seen to be faster in healthy controls than in patients, both in terms of recovery amplitude (patients 3.75 +/- 2.09 degrees C, controls 9.80 +/- 2.77 degrees C) and amplitude to time constant ratio (patients 1.21 +/- 0.64 degrees C/min, controls 1.96 +/- 0.48 degrees C/min). These results show that penile thermal abnormalities occur in almost all sclerodermic patients. Non-contact thermal imaging not only identifies thermal alterations but also clearly distinguishes between SSc patients and healthy controls and therefore could represent a valuable instrument in identifying early ED in SSc patients.