Hydroxyurea is an antitumoral drug mainly used in the treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-negative myeloproliferative syndromes and sickle-cell disease. Ulcers represent a rare but severe long-term adverse effect of hydroxyurea therapy. Hydroxyurea-induced ulcers are often multiple and bilateral, typically developing in the perimalleolar region, although any cutaneous district is potentially affected. They generally look small, well-defined, shallow with an adherent, yellow, fibrinous necrotic base. A constant finding is also an extremely intense, treatment-resistant pain accompanying these ulcerations. Withdrawal of the drug generally leads to spontaneous healing of these lesions. Care providers tend to show insufficient awareness of this highly debilitating cutaneous side effect, and late or missed diagnoses are frequent. Instead, regular dermatologic screening should be performed on hydroxyurea-treated patients. This article will present a comprehensive review of indexed case reports and clinical studies, followed by a discussion about treatment options aiming at increasing knowledge about this specific topic. © 2013 Tissue Viability Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cutaneous ulcers associated with hydroxyurea therapy

DINI, VALENTINA;ROMANELLI, MARCO
2013-01-01

Abstract

Hydroxyurea is an antitumoral drug mainly used in the treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-negative myeloproliferative syndromes and sickle-cell disease. Ulcers represent a rare but severe long-term adverse effect of hydroxyurea therapy. Hydroxyurea-induced ulcers are often multiple and bilateral, typically developing in the perimalleolar region, although any cutaneous district is potentially affected. They generally look small, well-defined, shallow with an adherent, yellow, fibrinous necrotic base. A constant finding is also an extremely intense, treatment-resistant pain accompanying these ulcerations. Withdrawal of the drug generally leads to spontaneous healing of these lesions. Care providers tend to show insufficient awareness of this highly debilitating cutaneous side effect, and late or missed diagnoses are frequent. Instead, regular dermatologic screening should be performed on hydroxyurea-treated patients. This article will present a comprehensive review of indexed case reports and clinical studies, followed by a discussion about treatment options aiming at increasing knowledge about this specific topic. © 2013 Tissue Viability Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
2013
Quattrone, Filippo; Dini, Valentina; Barbanera, Sabrina; Zerbinati, Nicola; Romanelli, Marco
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
JTV-D-13-00006R1.pdf

accesso aperto

Descrizione: articolo principale
Tipologia: Documento in Post-print
Licenza: Creative commons
Dimensione 993.43 kB
Formato Adobe PDF
993.43 kB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/820368
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 12
  • Scopus 43
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 34
social impact