TOPLINE:

A chart review of patients with scleroderma-related wounds showed that less than half achieved closure of at least one wound despite specialized treatment.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a chart review of 31 patients (mean age, 61.4 years; 90.3% women; 48.4% Hispanic) with scleroderma-related wounds at the Wound Care Center, University of Miami, Miami, a specialized center for refractory and complex wounds, from 2015 to 2024.
• Overall, 35.5% of patients had peripheral arterial disease, 32.3% had hypertension, and 29.0% had venous insufficiency.
• Patients had a mean of 2.36 wounds (54.8% bilateral); 58.1% had nondigital lower extremity ulcers, 51.6% had digital ulcers, and 9.7% had traumatic ulcers at the elbow, wrist, and/or forearm.
• The researchers evaluated therapeutic approaches and treatment outcomes.

TAKEAWAY:

• Among the 22 patients analyzed for healing outcomes, eight (36.4%) achieved complete wound closure, whereas 10 (45.5%) had closure of at least one wound; the overall mean healing time was 17.9 weeks.
• Digital ulcers healed faster (mean, 9.3 weeks) than lower extremity ulcers (mean, 19 weeks).
• No therapy was significantly associated with wound closure; however, prednisone (odds ratio [OR], 4.71; P = .10) and foam dressings (OR, 3.33; P = .17) showed trends towards improved outcomes.
• Phosphodiesterase 5 inhibitor treatment was the most common systemic therapy used (38.7% of patients), and topical nitroglycerin was the most common localized treatment used (19.4%). Collagenase was the most frequent topical agent used (22.6%), and debridement was the most common procedure performed (29.0%).

IN PRACTICE:

“Our findings highlight that treatment strategies should be tailored to ulcer location and underlying pathophysiology to optimize outcomes,” the authors wrote. “Future studies of current and emerging therapies are needed to improve healing outcomes, reduce morbidity, and improve quality of life for this challenging condition.”

SOURCE:

The study was led by Natalie Hickerson, MD, Department of Dermatology and Cutaneous Surgery, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, and was published online on September 15 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

LIMITATIONS:

Limitations included small sample sizes.

DISCLOSURES:

The authors did not report having any funding source or conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.