The phototherapy is a safe and effective technique for the treatment of adult patients with atopic dermatitis (AD). The treatment of chronic forms of the disease is most often done with narrow-band UVB (NB-UVB). There also exist effective phototherapy options against the AD. The aim of this study was to asses if the combination of NB-UVB with UVA was more effective than the treatment with only NB-UVB against adult chronic AD. We carried out a prospective and observational study. Adult patients with chronic AD with more than 50% of the total body surface area affected (TBSA) were included. The affected TBSA was calculated using the so-called "rule of nines." Patients with a clearance rate >75% of the initial affected TBSA or complete clearance rate were considered as complete response (CR). An analogue scale from 0 to 10 was used to measure the improvement grade of the pruritus. The treatments were repeated three times a week. The initial doses of NB-UVB and UVA were determined by patient's phototype. The treatments were performed using a phototherapy booth (UV7002, Walmann, Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany(®) ) with TL01 and UVA fluorescent lamps. Statistical analysis was performed with SPSS(®) (IBM, New York, NY) for Windows 21.0. A total of 26 patients with adult chronic AD were included in the study, 16 patients were treated with UVB-BE and 10 patients with the combined treatment option NB-UVB/UVA. The mean value of cumulative doses and the mean number of performed treatments were similar between both groups of patients (p > 0.05). The mean value of duration of response was significantly higher in the patients treated only with NB-UVB, 101 versus 6.8 months (p ≥ 0.05). No differences were observed for the patients that showed complete response (p = 0.42) and in the analogue scale of pruritus (p > 0.005). In our study, the patients treated with the combination of NB-UVB and UVA were similar to the patient that were only treated with NB-UVB e. Further prospective and controlled studies have to be performed in order to determine the dosing regimens of phototherapy in adult patients with AD.
Pityriasis lichenoides chronica (PLC) is an infrequent dermatosis of unknown aetiology, wholse evolution and response to treatment differs between children and adults. When PLC is recalcitrant or unresponsive to topical treatment, phototherapy is one of the main treatments used. We carried out a prospective study of adult diffuse PLC treated with narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB). We treated eight patients whose disease showed no response to topical therapy, and obtained a complete response rate of 88% in a mean of 23 sessions (cumulative dose 16.99 J/cm ). However, the relapse rate was 43% in the first 6 months. Our results are similar to those of other published studies but there is much variability between them in the doses applied and the number of sessions needed. Further studies are necessary to devise a protocol for NB-UVB treatment of PLC.
Background: Acute guttate psoriasis (AGP) is a distinctive clinical entity with good response to treatment with narrow-band ultraviolet B (NB-UVB). Objective: To investigate the results of NB-UVB phototherapy in adult patients with adult guttate psoriasis. Material and Methods: We carried out a prospective, open, and observational study. Patients over 18 years with more than 5% of body surface area affected were included. The PASI was assessed prior to and after treatment. The follow-up period was 18 months. After treatment, patients completed a simple questionnaire to assess their overall impression of the treatment. Results: The 67 adult patients with AGP included in this study had an initial PASI of 8.55 (SD 5.03). Patients were treated with a mean of 19.9 sessions (SD 13.5) and mean doses of 14 mJ/cm2 (SD 10.5). Of the 67 patients, 52 achieved PASI90 with 96.15% of PASI reduction, and of these, 46 (88%) maintained PASI90 during the 18 months of follow-up. Patients were very satisfied with the treatment. Discussion: AGP is a defined clinical entity with a variable course. Phototherapy with NB-UVB appears to be a very good option for treatment of AGP because of the good results obtained and patient satisfaction.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.