Quercetin and chronic venous ulceration of the lower limbs

Aim. Venous leg ulceration is a fearsome complication of chronic venous disease and it accounts for important socioeconomical problems in western countries. The scope of this study is to evaluate a new tool which includes the use of Compression Therapy together with topical application of Quercetin compounds in order to improve wound healing in venous ulcers. Methods. Patients eligible for the study were of both sexes, older than 20 years with chronic venous leg ulcer, evidence of venous reflux at duplex scanning, with an ankle-brachial pressure index >0.9. in order to receive compression therapy and/or surgical treatment (basic treatment) and local Quercetin administration. Patients were randomized in two groups: group A: 44 subjects, were treated with basic treatment + local quercetin administration for a six year period. Group B: 29 subjects were treated with basic treatment only for a six year period. Clinical evalutation, Duplex Ultrasound, Elastosonography and photographic evalutation were performed every 15 days for the first 180 days. Median follow-up was 15 months for group A and 13 months for group B. Results. Group A: 24 patients out of 44 (45% of the study sample) reported an improvement recorded at clinical and instrumental evaluations (P<0.01) where only in 7 patients out of 29 (31.03%) of Group B this improvement was recorded. Conclusion. Compression therapy associated with a quercetin slow releasing "under stocking" system showed good clinical results in treating patients with chronic venous ulceration of the lower limbs.