Copper Impact on Venous Insufficiency and Lipodermatosclerosis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Randomised Trial to determine the Impact of Copper Impregnated Compression Stockings on lipodermatosclerosis secondary to venous insufficiency
IRAS ID
132783
Contact name
Abdul Sultan
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Croydon Health Services
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 28 days
Research summary
Venous disease has an adverse impact on the quality of life of patients and the NHS spends considerable resources on this chronic condition. Copper has been shown to promote new blood vessel formation and therefore improve blood supply to the affected area and possibly skin conditions. Copper has also been shown to have strong antimicrobial properties. We plan to perform a study whereby patients who would normally be given leg stockings will be asked to wear similar stockings except that one of the stockings will contain copper fibers. Neither the patient nor the clinician will know which is which. Photographs of the leg conditions will be taken at baseline, 2, 4 and 8 weeks to evaluate healing. Benefit will be evaluated by a symptom questionnaire, severity scoring tools and healing scores taken from the serial photographs.
REC name
London - Camden & Kings Cross Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/LO/0974
Date of REC Opinion
5 Jun 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion