If you are a wound care practitioner, I guarantee that you have seen pyoderma gangrenosum (PG). And no matter how attuned you are to the disease, I guarantee you have missed some — because I have. The number of “head slap” moments I have had about PG is frustrating. One evening I was preparing a blog post about PG cases, and as I was going through the information I was about to post (feeling very self-confident), I realized that a patient I was actively seeing with a mysterious, small but very painful wound was PG – and I had missed it. I also know that if I could have 8 or 10 active cases of PG at any time in the wound center, PG simply cannot be “rare.” The problem is that PG is rarely diagnosed. And even though biopsies are unreliable – people still rely on them for a diagnosis rather than using the PARACELSUS clinical criteria. Dr. Alex-Ortega-Loayza is the real expert about PG. In addition to his clinical research on PG, he has devoted hours of his time talking to many of you who have messaged me about tough PG cases when you could not find a local dermatologist to help. I appreciate him so much!
Here’s a guest blog from Dr. Ortega about the work he and others have been doing to better characterize, diagnose and treat PG – and a link to a recent review article about PG that every wound care practitioner should read.
–Caroline
In 2020, a group of physicians, wound care specialists, industry representatives, and researchers came together to form UPGRADE (Understanding Pyoderma Gangrenosum: Review and Analysis of Disease Effects). Their goal was to establish consensus on outcome measures for assessing the success of clinical interventions in pyoderma gangrenosum (PG) and to accelerate drug discovery for this challenging condition.
Since UPGRADE’s inception in 2020, the number of clinical trials for PG has doubled compared to the previous 15 years. Building on this momentum, the UPGRADE initiative is now launching a large-scale international registry called PyGaTe (Pyoderma Gangrenosum Treatment Effectiveness). This registry aims to standardize data collection worldwide, facilitate the comparison of treatment outcomes, and generate real-world evidence to improve the management of PG.
This has been summarized in a recent news and perspective article I have published, “The Changing Landscape of Clinical Research in Pyoderma Gangrenosum”. Thank you, to all the wound care practitioners who work hard to identify and find treatment for these patients!
Alex G. Ortega-Loayza, MD
Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to improving patient outcomes through quality driven care. Please visit my blog at CarolineFifeMD.com and my Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/carolinefifemd/videos
The opinions, comments, and content expressed or implied in my statements are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect the position or views of Intellicure or any of the boards on which I serve.
