Campochiaro, C., Suliman, Y.A., Giuggioli, D. et al. (21 more authors) (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. ISSN 2397-1983
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.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © The Author(s) 2025. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Medicine and Health (Leeds) > School of Medicine (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NIHR National Inst Health Research ICA-CL-2018-04-ST2-015 Somerset NHS Foundation Trust Finance Department Not Known |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 18 Jul 2025 11:57 |
Last Modified: | 18 Jul 2025 11:57 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | SAGE Publications |
Identification Number: | 10.1177/23971983251339821 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:229186 |