title: [The treatment of skin ulcers in systemic sclerosis: use of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) in 26 patients].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To verify the effectiveness of G-CSF in the treatment of non-healing skin lesions in SSc patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  26 SSc patients (23 F and 3 M, age 54 +/-13,6 yrs) with skin ulcers were enrolled in a pilot study. Prior to the treatment with G-CSF, all ulcers failed to heal with conventional therapies carried out for a period of 1-5 years. All patients were treated with 5 microg/kg G-CSF subcutaneously for 5 days. Healing time, quality of wounds, VAS and HAQ-DI were used to evaluate the efficacy of the treatment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  An improvement of skin ulcers was observed in 24/26 patients; in particular, 22/26 wounds completely healed, 2/26 showed a partial healing, in only 2 patients skin ulcers did not change during the 6-month follow-up. The quality of life improves as showed by VAS (from 88+/-13 to 55+/-28; p<.0001) and HAQ (from 2.12 +/-0.45 to 1.28+/-0.30; p<.0001). The eradication of pathogens from the infected ulcers was also observed in 12/12 patients; while no adverse side effects related to G-CSF were recorded. Our study suggests that G-CSF may be usefully employed in scleroderma skin ulcers refractory to conventional treatments.
authors.affiliation: Cattedra e UO di Reumatologia, Università di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Italia. diliagiuggioli@Hotmail.com
authors.forename: Dilia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Giuggioli
authors.forename: Rocco
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Magistro
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Colaci
authors.forename: Umberto
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Franciosi
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Caruso
authors.forename: Clodoveo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ferri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D000069585:Filgrastim; D016179:Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012595:Scleroderma, Systemic / Q000150:complications*; D012883:Skin Ulcer / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014945:Wound Healing
chemical_list: D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D016179:Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor; D000069585:Filgrastim