Study published into Cocaine-Induced Midline Destructive Lesions
Last year, Mr Annakan Navaratnam and colleagues published a multicentric study involving three London hospitals in The Laryngoscope, a peer-reviewed journal in the field of otolaryngology, entitled ‘The role of ANCA in the management of cocaine-induced midline destructive lesions or ENT pseudo-granulomatosis with polyangiitis.’
Cocaine-Induced Midline Destructive Lesions or CIMDL is the progressive erosion of the mucosal lining and damage to the nose’s cartilage and bone, typically resulting in a septal perforation.
The study’s authors compared ANCA-positive and ANCA-negative CIMDL patients to assess how presence of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA) may correlate with disease severity. ANCAs are a group of autoantibodies that attack healthy white blood cells called neutrophils and are found in many types of autoimmune and infectious diseases, including vasculitis.
