Background: Collagenase clostridium histolyticum (CCH) has proven to be both safe and effective in the treatment of Dupuytren disease (DD). The medium-term outcomes are similar to those achieved with surgery, and most adverse effects are self-limiting and considered to be mild or moderate.
Objective: Our objective was to conduct a systematic review of the adverse effects of CCH in DD since the release of the drug to evaluate the incidence, severity, classification, and definitions of these effects.
Methods: We analyzed the literature in terms of modifications to the original treatment protocol and grouped adverse effects according to their pathophysiological origin.
Results: We included 28 clinical studies and five case reports or case series analyzing 4456 patients with a mean age of 63.6 years. Mean follow-up was 7.07 months (range 3-24); the mean number of patients per study was 148 (range 5-1082). The studies did not classify the adverse effects they reported into groups. The most common effects were peripheral edema (54.4%), bruising (42.9%), and upper limb pain (28.3%). Significant biases were observed for use of terminology, demarcation of sites of involvement, severity criteria, and assessment methods.
Conclusion: A simpler and clearer consensus-based classification system would enable better evaluation and comparison of the adverse effects of CCH in the treatment of DD. Consideration of inflammatory phenomena as part of the drug's mechanism of action would significantly reduce overall rates of adverse effects.