Preventing repeated attacks of cellulitis – results of preliminary (pilot) work

Why we did the study

Patients with cellulitis throughout the country have been interviewed by dermatologists in order to help with the design of a future clinical trial looking at the use of antibiotics to prevent further attacks of cellulitis.  This pilot work was designed to help the researchers to find out how many people would be willing to take part in such a trial, and to test out the methods being used.  By discussing the research with patients who have suffered from cellulitis of the leg, we also hoped to increase the relevance of the research to patients and their doctors.

This is how one of the participants described their cellulitis:

“…it just goes very red and swells up and the pain is dreadful when you stand up, it feels as though your veins are being ripped out.”

What we found out

This study took place from September 2004 until May 2005 and was funded by the British Skin Foundation.  In all, 70 patients who had been admitted to hospital for the treatment of cellulitis of the leg were interviewed by the research team.  These patients were seen in 15 hospitals throughout the country.  In addition, five patients with previous experience of cellulitis took part in a two-hour discussion group session, in order to capture their views about the design and conduct of the future trial.

We discovered that it was quite hard to identify patients whilst they were in hospital because they were not all treated in the same department, and because there was no centralised system for identifying patients with a particular condition.  We also learnt that of the patients we approached for this preliminary work, only 37% would have been willing and able to enter the future trial (according to our rules about the type of patients that would be suitable for the study).

Participants also helped us to understand the type of concerns that patients might have when being asked to take part in a trial of this kind.  These were largely related to the need to take antibiotics for quite a long time (six months) and the possible impact that this might have on the treatment of other infections.

Funding: This study was kindly funded through a grant from the British Skin Foundation.

For further information about this study, please contact Joanne Chalmers.