Conditions: Pulmonary Hypertension Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension
Keywords: Qutenza Capsaicin Remodulin Treprostinil
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 6
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
Subcutaneous treprostinil (Remodulin) is effective therapy for pulmonary arterial hypertension, a life threatening disease of the lung blood vessels. Unfortunately, treprostinil is irritating to the skin and many patients experience intense pain at the infusion site for the first 7-10 days after placing a new subcutaneous infusion site.

Qutenza is an FDA approved formulation of 8% capsaicin that is approved for the treatment of post-herpetic neuralgia, a painful skin condition. The investigators hypothesize that pretreatment of an area of skin with Qutenza would decrease the pain associated with a new treprostinil infusion site. The investigators hope that Qutenza will decrease both the intensity of the pain and the duration of the pain after patients place a new treprostinil infusion site.

In this initial study, the investigators will provide Qutenza in open-label, unblinded fashion and ask patients to rate their pain using a diary tool with which they are already comfortable.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: All participants actively treated with Qutenza

Interventions: intervention 1: Qutenza (8% capsaicin)
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: We will place a Qutenza (8% capsaicin) patch onto an area of normal, anesthetized skin for 60 minutes. Within 28 days, subjects will place a new treprostinil infusion site into the area of Qutenza pre-treated skin.

Protocol document: