Scleroderma Research Treatments Mainstream

Scleroderma Treatments - General

Unfortunately, there's no proven treatment and no cure for scleroderma yet. However, there are treatments for many of the symptoms plus experimental Treatments & Clinical Trials, and Research Registries for patients. Consult a scleroderma expert for the best care.

Scleroderma Experts (Worldwide List). Whenever possible, always consult a scleroderma expert for the best care for this demanding, complex, and unique disease. ISN.

Systemic Scleroderma Symptoms. It is common for systemic scleroderma to be treated by symptom management only. Look up individual symptoms and treatments through this extensive symptom list. Or, enter your term in the search bar which is at the top of this page. ISN.

The contemporary management of Systemic Sclerosis (Ssc). Future directions in this field may include combination and maintenance therapy that is currently used in other autoimmune diseases, and tailoring these treatments according to the patients' phenotype. PubMed, Expert Rev Clin Immunol, 06/06/2018.

Photopheresis (ECP): Advances and Use in Systemic Sclerosis (SSC). Clinical studies have generally demonstrated improvement, especially the skin, in SSc patients receiving ECP and it may be an effective and safe procedure for the treatment of SSc. PubMed, Curr Rheumatol Rep, 2017 Jun;19(6):31.

A word of caution regarding single-center, retrospective studies. Patients frequently improve on placebo. Patients who are improving usually attribute it to their therapy and thus stay with it. Thus uncontrolled cohorts become enriched for "responders" while failures seek other paths. This dynamic underlies virtually all therapeutic "breakthroughs" which is why large scale double-blinded clinical trials are crucial for determining valid scleroderma treatments.

A retrospective randomly selected cohort study of D-penicillamine treatment in rapidly progressive diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis of recent onset. In a population of patients with diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis, with progressive disease of recent onset, D-penicillamine treatment at a median dose of 750 mg per day caused a statistically significant reduction in skin involvement and improvement of renal, cardiac and pulmonary involvement. PubMed, Br J Dermatol. (Also see Clinical Trials, and Skin Fibrosis)

Scleroderma Clinical Trials and Open Enrollments Includes proven treatments, unproven, open enrollments, pending results, and research registries. ISN.

Scleroderma Related Medications MedicineNet.

Frequent Monitoring Critical to Effectively Manage Scleroderma. Treatment can help control the symptoms. Drugs that suppress the body's immune response may help, along with medications to improve blood circulation (vasodilators). Also helpful are self-care techniques such as frequently moisturizing the skin, exercising regularly, not smoking and keeping the hands and feet warm. Nisha Manek, MD. Mayo Clinic.

Iloprost, Ventavist (Prostacyclin)

Prostacyclin for Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. This review demonstrates clinical and statistical benefit for intravenous prostacyclin. PubMed, Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 2019 May 1;5(5):CD012785. (Also see Iloprost, Ventavist)

Role of Vasodilator Testing in Pulmonary Hypertension (PAH). To identify patients who are likely to have a beneficial response to calcium channel blockers (CCBs) and therefore a better prognosis, acute vasodilator testing should be performed in patients in certain subsets of PAH. PubMed, Prog Cardiovasc Dis. (Also see Iloprost, Ventavist)

Scleroderma Symptoms ISN.

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