Campochiaro, Corrado;
Suliman, Yossra A;
Giuggioli, Dilia;
Moinzadeh, Pia;
Alunno, Alessia;
Schoones, Jan W;
Baron, Murray;
... Hughes, Michael; + view all
(2025)
Recommendations for the local management of digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: A report from the World Scleroderma Foundation (WSF) ‘Ad hoc committee’.
Journal of Scleroderma and Related Disorders
10.1177/23971983251339821.
(In press).
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Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Digital ulcers (DUs) stand out as one of the most prevalent and clinically meaningful manifestations of systemic sclerosis (SSc) and are associated with significant morbidity. While systemic (pharmacological) therapy is currently established as the 'standard of care', effective local ulcer management remains crucial for all cases of DUs. This is particularly true for patients who cannot tolerate systemic treatments or in the case of refractory SSc-DUs. On this background, there is a pressing demand for the formulation of evidence-based guidelines to assist clinicians and patients in navigating the local treatment options for DUs. /./ METHODS: A steering committee of international experts was established by the World Scleorderma Foundation (WSF) Digital Ulcer (DU) ad hoc committee. Two systematic literature reviews on local non-surgical and surgical treatments for the management of SSc-DUs were performed to inform the development of local treatment recommendations for SSc-DUs. Consensus methodology was used to develop the final treatment recommendations. /./ RESULTS: Six overarching treatment principles and eight local treatment recommendations (five non-surgical and three surgical) were agreed upon for the management of SSc-DU. Among topical non-surgical options, botulin toxin can be conditionally recommended for refractory and/or severe DUs. Among surgical treatments, autologous adipose tissue grafting might be recommended for DU healing when combined with background systemic treatments. /./ CONCLUSION: These recommendations are specifically tailored to guide treatment decisions concerning both local and non-pharmacological approaches to managing SSc-related DUs. Our work has highlighted a notable quality gap in comparison to systemic treatments, underscoring the scarcity of high-quality studies concerning this topic.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Recommendations for the local management of digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: A report from the World Scleroderma Foundation (WSF) ‘Ad hoc committee’ |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1177/23971983251339821 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1177/23971983251339821 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s), 2025. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Systemic sclerosis, TIME, adipose tissue, botulin, debridement, digital ulcers, local treatment, non-pharmacological, scleroderma, surgical |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Medicine UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Medicine > Inflammation |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10209183 |
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