No single test is available for Scleroderma, although laboratory tests and x-rays may help in evaluating someone with suspected scleroderma, or find that someone actually has another disease. Even the ANA blood test for autoantibodies, often used in making the diagnosis, is not conclusive.
A scleroderma diagnosis is based primarily on a combination of a person's description of symptoms (history) and physical examination findings.
Scleroderma is diagnosed as the result of an unusual thickening or swelling of the skin, especially on the hands and extending up the arms, as well as dilated blood vessels in the face, hands, nail folds and elsewhere. Some patients develop cutaneous deposits of calcium (calcinosis), and characteristic involvement of other organs including the lungs, muscle inflammation, and the kidneys.
Almost all (more than 90%) of people with scleroderma also have Raynaud's phenomenon (an abnormal reaction of blood vessels to the cold, caused by structural damage of vessels in the hands, as well as elsewhere in the body). Many people with scleroderma also have additional heartburn and difficulty swallowing. However, since Raynaud's phenomenon and heartburn can be caused by many other conditions, they are not specific disease indicators.
Medline Plus (National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health)
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