Use of a Single Dose of Oral Prednisone in the Treatment of Cellulitis

Summary

Cellulitis is the medical term for an infection of the skin, with symptoms including redness, swelling, warmth, and pain. This group of symptoms is called inflammation, and is caused by the body's immune system responding to the infection. Standard care for cellulitis is using antibiotics to destroy the infection, but the inflammation can persist and cause a great deal of pain. The hypothesis of this study is that adding a single dose of an oral steroid (prednisone), which tempers the immune response, will reduce inflammation, reduce pain, and speed recovery. This hypothesis will be examined by recruiting a group of patients with cellulitis, and randomizing them to two sub-groups: one group will receive a dose of prednisone, while the other group will receive a placebo. Neither group will know what they received unless there is a problem. These subjects will be followed up at the 48 hour mark and the 7 day mark, and will have their results compared.

Timeline

Start

2012-08

Primary completion

2015-09

Completion

2015-09

Publications

• Background Bergkvist PI, Sjobeck K. Antibiotic and prednisolone therapy of erysipelas: a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study. Scand J Infect Dis. 1997;29(4):377-82. doi: 10.3109/00365549709011834.
• Background Kiderman A, Yaphe J, Bregman J, Zemel T, Furst AL. Adjuvant prednisone therapy in pharyngitis: a randomised controlled trial from general practice. Br J Gen Pract. 2005 Mar;55(512):218-21.
• Background Qi D, Pulinilkunnil T, An D, Ghosh S, Abrahani A, Pospisilik JA, Brownsey R, Wambolt R, Allard M, Rodrigues B. Single-dose dexamethasone induces whole-body insulin resistance and alters both cardiac fatty acid and carbohydrate metabolism. Diabetes. 2004 Jul;53(7):1790-7. doi: 10.2337/diabetes.53.7.1790.
• Background Todd KH, Funk KG, Funk JP, Bonacci R. Clinical significance of reported changes in pain severity. Ann Emerg Med. 1996 Apr;27(4):485-9. doi: 10.1016/s0196-0644(96)70238-x.
• Background Yen MT, Yen KG. Effect of corticosteroids in the acute management of pediatric orbital cellulitis with subperiosteal abscess. Ophthalmic Plast Reconstr Surg. 2005 Sep;21(5):363-6; discussion 366-7. doi: 10.1097/01.iop.0000179973.44003.f7.

Drugs

Indications