Efficacy and adverse effects of collagenase use in the treatment of Dupuytren's disease: a meta-analysis.

AIMS: The aim of this meta-analysis was to assess the safety and efficacy of collagenase clostridium histolyticum compared with fasciectomy and percutaneous needle fasciotomy (PNF) for Dupuytren's disease.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: We systematically searched PubMed, EMBASE, LILACS, Web of Science, Cochrane, Teseo and the ClinicalTrials.gov registry for clinical trials and cohort or case-control studies which compared the clinical outcomes and adverse effects of collagenase with those of fasciectomy or PNF. Of 1345 articles retrieved, ten were selected. They described the outcomes of 425 patients treated with collagenase and 418 treated by fasciectomy or PNF. Complications were assessed using inverse-variance weighted odds ratios (ORs). Clinical efficacy was assessed by differences between the means for movement of the joint before and after treatment. Dose adjustment was applied in all cases.

RESULTS: Random-effects modelling showed that patients treated with collagenase had 3.24 increased odds of adverse effects compared with those treated by fasciectomy (OR 4.39) or PNF (OR 1.72,). The effect was lost when only major complications were assessed. Joint movement analysis revealed a difference between means of less than 10%, indicating equivalent clinical efficacy in the short and medium term for collagenase and fasciectomy. We were unable to analyse this for PNF due to a shortage of data.

CONCLUSION: There were no significant differences in effect size between collagenase and fasciectomy. The use of collagenase was associated with a higher overall risk of adverse effects than both fasciectomy and PNF. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2018;100-B:73-80.