The Use of Oral Steroids in the Treatment of Cellulitis

Phase 2

Withdrawn

• Conditions: Cellulitis; Erysipelas
• Interventions: Drug: Placebo Oral Tablet; Drug: Prednisone

• Registration Number: NCT00893048
• Lead Sponsor: Milton S. Hershey Medical Center

Brief Summary

The prevalence of cellulitis in society is very high, as much as 3% of visits to Emergency Departments are for the treatment of this disease. The treatment of cellulitis varies depending on the severity. Low severity cases are treated with pain control and antibiotics by mouth and high severity are treated with antibiotics intravenously and pain control. The investigator's hypothesis is to see if the addition of steroids, which are known to decrease inflammation, will decrease the length of the disease process. If so, it will decrease the length of stay if IV antibiotics are needed, it will decrease duration of days out of work and decrease the overall pain control required and therefore patient satisfaction.

Detailed Description

The incidence of cellulitis is about 24.6 cases per 1000 person-years, which is an estimate, since cellulitis is not a reportable disease. In some Emergency Departments up to 3% of visits are for cellulitis. Depending on the severity of the disease, some are treated as outpatients, and others are admitted for IV antibiotics. In some Emergency Departments cases of cellulitis are treated in an observation area for 23 hours with doses of IV antibiotics. My proposed research is to see if the addition of one dose of prednisone the treatment will decrease the inflammatory reaction enough to decrease length of stay and treatment and increase patient satisfaction.

Basic Information
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Recruitment & Eligibility
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Study & Design

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2009-05-01
• Study First Submitted QC: 2009-05-04
• Study First Posted: 2009-05-05
• Study Start: 2010-01-15
• Primary Completion: 2010-08-31
• Study Completion: 2010-08-31
• Status Verified: 2017-07
• Last Update Submitted: 2017-07-21
• Last Update Posted: 2017-07-25

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: WITHDRAWN
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: Not specified

Inclusion Criteria

• 18-70 years old
• signs/symptoms of cellulitis

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Exclusion Criteria

• steroid use in last 2 weeks
• hx of adrenal insufficiency
• suspicion for dvt or abcess
• systemic signs of sepsis
• ICU admission

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Placebo	Placebo Oral Tablet	-
Prednisone	Prednisone	Use of prednisone to decrease LOS and overall treatment time of cellulitis

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Time to cellulitis resolving	48 hours after initiation of treatment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Length of stay	after treatment completed