Effects of polyurethane foam dressings as an add-on therapy in the management of digital ulcers in scleroderma patients
Data
2020Autore
Rossi, Francesca Wanda
Rivellese, Felice
Napolitano, Filomena
Mosella, Francesca
Selleri, Carmine
Montuori, Nunzia
De Paulis, Amato
Metadata
Mostra tutti i dati dell'itemAbstract
Digital ulcers (DUs) represent a severe and
common complication occurring in patients affected
by Systemic Sclerosis (SSc), with a consistent
impact on the quality of life and often resulting in
longer hospitalization than unaffected patients.
Conventional treatment of SSc ulcers consists of
both topical and systemic (oral or intravenous)
pharmacological therapies. Several surgical options
are also available, but there is overall a lack of
official guidelines or recommendations.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of
a novel local therapy based on polyurethane foam
dressings, namely the Highly Hydrophilic
Polyurethane Foam (HPF), in addition to the
conventional pharmacological treatment, in a cohort
of 41 SSc patients with at least one active ulcer.
Our results showed that the addition of HPF to the
conventional treatment based on systemic drugs
induced i) a significant reduction in the number of
active DUs (p=0.0034); ii) a significant reduction of
the mean duration of ulcer-related hospitalization as
compared with standard therapy (p=0.0001); iii) a
significant improvement of patients’ Quality of Life,
as evaluated through the Scleroderma Health
Assessment Questionnaire (SHAQ) (p=0.00011).
Therefore, in our experience, the combined
management of DUs can improve both the onset of
new DUs and DU’s healing thus leading to a better
outcome.