Abstract
Patients (84) with systemic sclerosis were investigated and observed at intervals for up to 15 yr. The prognosis was worse in males than in females, although in any individual case the clinical course was unpredictable. Those patients with the combination of calcinosis, Raynaud''s phenomenon, sclerodactyly and telangiectasia [CRST syndrome] had the same degree of systemic involvement and the same prognosis as other patients with systemic sclerosis. Therefore, the term CRST syndrome should be abandoned.