Scleroderma simulating vinyl chloride disease.

Progressive systemic sclerosis, especially prior to distinctive internal organ involvement can be difficult to distinguish from vinyl chloride disease. A 50-year-old male developed classic scleroderma while working with polyvinyl chloride. Early in his disease he displayed a number of features common to both disorders, including acroosteolysis, sclerodactyly, polygammopathy and circulating immune complexes. Characteristic visceral involvement was the cardinal feature which distringuished his disease from the pseudoscleroderma of vinyl chloride disease.