[Topical haemotherapy as treatment for necrotic angiodermatitis: a pilot study]

Necrotic angiodermatitis is a variety of leg ulcer, characterized by very painful and rapidly spreading lesions. Healing takes time, a mean of 4 to 11 months. Current treatment is difficult and rarely satisfactory. Only early skin grafts lead to rapid sedation of pain and stop the lesion from extending. However, this technique, performed during a progressive phase, enhances the risk of losing a certain number of grafts. We wanted to confirm the efficacy of local auto-haemo-therapy proposed in 2 non-controlled studies.

Eleven patients with necrotic angiodermatitis were included in our non-controlled prospective study. The topical hemotherapy was applied three times a week for one month, with initial hospitalization for 15 days. The criteria of assessment were: evolution of pain, surface of the ulcer, colorimetric scale and the date of disappearance of the purple halo.

Ten patients were relieved by the treatment, with progressive withdrawal of the analgesics. The progression of the lesion had stopped and the purple halo had disappeared in general by D6 (range: 2 to 21 days). The percentage of granulation tissue with regard to the surface of the ulcer was of 45.4 p. 100 on D0, 80 p. 100 on D14 and 85 p. 100 on D28.

Topical hemotherapy applied during the initial phase of treatment would reduce the pain and prepare the lesion for a secondary skin graft.