Platelet gel in the treatment of severe scleroderma skin ulcers
Rheumatology International, 08/15/2011
Clinical Article
Giuggioli D et al. – PG may represent a novel therapeutic option for SSc skin ulcers refractory to conventional treatments.
Methods- Pilot open study
- Aimed to evaluate effect of PG in 12 SSc patients with skin ulcers resistant to conventional therapies from at least 6 months
- PG was applied in wound bed twice weekly for 2 weeks, then once weekly for 12 weeks; in all cases, ongoing treatments remained unchanged at time of PG applications
- Skin ulcers were evaluated at 0, 12 and 24 weeks
- QOL was also evaluated using visual analogical scale (VAS) and health assessment questionnaire (HAQ)
- During 6-month follow-up, skin ulcers consistently improved in 10/12 patients, with complete healing in 4
- At last evaluation, wound size reduced from 23.4 ± 14.9 SD to 2.3 ± 2.2 SD cm2 (p < 0.0001)
- Patient’s QOL markedly improved: VAS decreased from 87.08 ± 13.5 to 57.9 ± 12.6; p < 0.0001 and HAQ from 0.73 ± 0.43 to 0.57 ± 0.22; p < 0.0001