We recently had the privilege of talking to Ms. Morgan Smith from the Plant Based New Zealand Health Trust who was lead author of a case study showing the benefit of a plant-based diet on livedoid vasculopathy published in BMJ Case Reports.
Please provide an overview of livedoid vasculopathy including signs and symptoms and who is likely to get this disorder.
Livedoid vasculopathy is a disorder affecting the blood vessels of the lower legs. Blockages of the blood vessels cause the skin on the legs to ulcerate which can be both painful and itchy. Ulcers can also be brought on by minor injuries to the legs. It is often worse in the summer months. Livedoid vasculopathy can present at any age, but is most common in middle-aged women.
What are some current treatment options of livedoid vasculopathy?
There is no known cure for livedoid vasculopathy, but treatment options include compression stockings, anticoagulation, and smoking cessation.
Describe your study recently published in BMJ Case Reports.
In our case report, a woman in her 60s with a 10-year history of livedoid vasculopathy presented to her GP for antibiotics for an infected ulcer. She was bothered by having ongoing ulcers on her legs, as they were painful, “unsightly”, and relentless. The patient expressed a willingness to try anything that would help. He suggested she could try a whole food plant-based (WFPB) diet, as it is known to promote good blood vessel health, although there was no guarantee it would work.
She began eating a whole foods plant-based diet and within a month had greatly improved, and by one year was symptom-free. She noticed that her disease would flare when she did not adhere to the diet. In her own words she “fell off the bandwagon” after 3 years on a plant-based diet and her disease recurred with very painful ulcers. She subsequently resumed her plant-based diet and has been in remission since, and has ceremoniously thrown away the compression stockings she used to wear every day.
Although livedoid vasculopathy can remit spontaneously, it is interesting in this case that periods of remission seem to be closely tied to changes in her diet. As far as we know, there are no other reports of dietary treatment for livedoid vasculopathy in the literature. The patient herself has been eager to share her experiences in the hope that it might help someone else with the same condition.
For more information about livedoid vasculopathy and other rare blood diseases, visit checkrare.com/diseases/hematologic-disorders/
