Collagenase Clostridium histolyticum Injection Therapy Improves Health-related Quality of Life in Patients with Dupuytren’s Disease

OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to investigate the changes in clinical and psychosocial outcomes in patients with Dupuytren’s disease after initial treatment with collagenase Clostridium histolyticum (CCH) injection. METHODS: This study involved 14 patients with Dupuytren’s disease who underwent treatment with CCH injection. The range of motion of each phalangeal joint was measured before treatment and at 6 months posttreatment. The following assessments were also carried out pre- and posttreatment: the Geriatric Depression Scale Short – Japanese version (GDS-J) to evaluate depressive status, Hand 10 to assess hand health status, and EuroQol-5-dimension-3-level Japanese version to evaluate health-related quality of life RESULTS: Significant improvements were found in metacarpophalangeal joint extension and proximal interphalangeal joint extension. Significant differences were also found between values before the initiation of CCH injection and those at 6 months posttreatment for the EuroQol index score and the EuroQol Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Significant positive correlations were found between the pre- to posttreatment change in GDS-J scores and for the change in Hand 10 scores. Moreover, a significant negative correlation was found between the change in GDS-J scores and change in EuroQol index scores/EuroQol VAS scores before and at 6 months after CCH injection. CONCLUSIONS: For patients with Dupuytren’s disease, CCH therapy directly improved the health-related quality of life. The degree of improvement of depressive status was associated with the degree of improvement of hand health status and health-related quality of life.