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This study aimed to assess retardance as a biomarker in SSc. Thirty-one patients with SSc and 27 healthy controls (HC) underwent PS-OCT imaging. \u2018Skin score\u2019 was assessed by clinical palpation (0\u20133 scale). A subset of ten patients and ten age\/sex-matched HC had a biopsy and longitudinal imaging. Histological assessment included quantification of epidermal thickness, collagen content (to assess fibrosis) and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity (in situ zymography). PS-OCT images were assessed for epidermal thickness (structure) and fibrosis (retardance). Positive correlation was observed between epidermal thickness as measured by histology and structural PS-OCT (r\u2009=\u20090.79; p\u2009&lt;\u20090.001). Retardance was: HC mean 0.21 (SD 0.21) radian\/pixel; SSc skin score 0, 0.30 (0.19); skin score 1, 0.11 (0.16); skin score 2, 0.06 (0.12); skin score 3, 0.36 (0.35). Longitudinal retardance decreased at one-week across groups, increasing at one-month for HC\/skin score 0\u20131; HC biopsy site retardance suggests scarring is akin to fibrosis. Relationships identified between retardance with both biopsy and skin score data indicate that retardance warrants further investigation as a suitable biomarker for SSc-related fibrosis.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-022-06783-7","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,2,21]],"date-time":"2022-02-21T11:23:53Z","timestamp":1645442633000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Polarisation-sensitive optical coherence tomography measurement of retardance in fibrosis, a non-invasive biomarker in patients with systemic sclerosis"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"E. 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