The University of Nevada School of Medicine’s Allergy Group is seeking participants for a clinical study on therapy for treatment of hereditary angioedema, a painful genetic disorder that causes swelling in the hands, feet, face, throat or intestinal tract.

“Hereditary angioedema is a rare condition with most allergists seeing only a couple of patients depending on the surrounding population size,” said Mary Beth Hogan, M.D., a board-certified specialist in pediatric allergy and immunology and a professor at the University of Nevada School of Medicine’s pediatrics department in Reno.

The condition is an inheritable illness consisting of swelling attacks which may take up to three or more days to resolve. These attacks may be life threatening if swelling occurs in the airway. Abdominal attacks are the most painful and often lead to nausea and vomiting caused by obstruction and swelling of the intestinal wall.

If you are 10 years old or older and have a documented diagnosis of hereditary angioedema, you may be eligible to participate in the study which is designed to determine if a new drug is capable of treating swelling attacks at the time of the attack so that episodes resolve quickly.

Study enrollment will continue for approximately six months and enrollees will have access to the drug post-study until it has completed the FDA approval process.

For more information on the study and to determine eligibility, contact Kathy Peele, study coordinator at (775) 784-6522 or kpeele@medicine.nevada.edu.