L-Carnitine for Leg Ulcers

Excerpt

To the editors: Ulcerations on the lower legs occur in up to 75% of adults with sickle cell anemia. Secondary infections are common, and there is often painful limitation of ankle motion. Treatment regimens generally have been unsatisfactory (1, 2). The pathophysiology leading to these lesions is not known with certainty, although the lesions are assumed to result from ischemia due to reduced or obstructed flow in the microcirculation.I have followed a 32-year-old man with homozygous sickle cell anemia for the past 17 years. At 27 years of age, he developed constant ulceration on both ankles and feet. The ulceration