Impact on healing of double-layered compression stocking in the treatment of severe venous leg ulcers: A prospective, multicenter, controlled trial.

Venous leg ulcer refers to chronic wounds, generally difficult to heal and often prone to recurrence. The objective of this research was to assess a double layered compression stocking VenoTrain® ulcertec on a population with mostly severe pathologies. This prospective, multicenter, interventional type II study was conducted between September 2018 and January 2022. Out of 124 patients enrolled, 97.6% had a history of previous leg ulceration, 72.6% were already being followed for leg ulcerations, 30.9% were severely overweight and 24.2% diabetic. Overall, a majority of target ulcers were present for 6months or more, and the ulcer surface area was larger than 8cm2 in nearly one in every five cases. The primary endpoint was the rate of closed ulcer after a maximum follow-up of 20weeks. While most of the treated venous leg ulcerations may be regarded as hard-to-heal wounds, closure rate at 20weeks ranged between 50.0% (two severity criteria) and 69.0% (no severity criteria) according to baseline wound severity criteria. Besides, VenoTrain® ulcertec device was particularly well accepted and tolerated by patients. In 93.2% of visits, patients stated using it every day. When managing venous ulcerations not requiring strongly thick absorbent dressings, VenoTrain® ulcertec device represents an efficient and more suitable alternative to venous compression bandaging.

Nailfold dermoscopy predicts the absence of a capillaroscopy sclerodermic pattern: The multicentre, prospective VASCUL-R trial.

BACKGROUND: Nailfold capillaroscopy is recommended to diagnose primary or secondary Raynaud's phenomenon (RP). Capillaroscopy is normal in primary RP, which is the most frequent. Screening for RP capillary anomalies with nailfold dermoscopy has been promising. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether normal nailfold dermoscopy-based on the absence of five criteria that define a sclerodermic pattern-is able to predict normal capillaroscopy with good positive-predictive value (PPV). METHODS: Prospective, 2-phase (monocentre and multicentre) study on patients at first consultation for RP undergoing nailfold video capillaroscopy (NVC) and nailfold dermoscopy by two different 'blinded' trained observers, respectively, a vascular specialist and a dermatologist, not familiar with capillaroscopy. The five criteria noted were as follows: disorganization, megacapillaries, low capillary density, avascular areas and haemorrhages. RESULTS: Based on 105 patients, the dermoscopy PPV for a normal NVC was 100% (p = 0.015), with 37.9% sensitivity, when no criterion was observed. Excluding haemorrhages, the PPV remained 100% (p < 0.0001), with sensitivity rising to 73.7% and 100% specificity. CONCLUSIONS: Normal nailfold dermoscopy with the absence of four easy-to-observe criteria predicts normal NVC with an excellent PPV.