Qutenza for Critical Ischaemia in End Stage Renal Failure
Status:
Unknown status
Trial end date:
2014-03-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Critical ischaemia is pain at rest as the result of poor blood flow and lack of oxygen being
delivered to the tissues. It normally affects the hands and feet and can be very
debilitating. It is particularly common and difficult to treat in patients with end stage
renal failure
Patients with renal failure are often high risk of any operative intervention which might
help the pain. Often the only treatment options are painkillers. Unfortunately however, the
commonly used painkillers, for example morphine, are known to cause worse side effects in
patients with renal failure (drowsiness, confusion etc.
Qutenza (topical capsaicin 8%) is a new treatment made from chilli peppers which is applied
to the skin as a patch and works directly at the nerve endings in the skin to prevent pain.
It therefore should not have the systemic side effects of other drugs. It has been
demonstrated to be beneficial in other painful conditions for example post-shingles pain and
nerve pain from HIV. It has never been used for critical ischaemia before.
We propose to investigate the efficacy of Qutenza in treating patients with end stage renal
failure and painful ischaemia. We will recruit 20 patients with painful ischaemia and treat
them with Qutenza. We will follow them up for 12 weeks and monitor the change in their pain
scores.