Patients’ Acceptance of Etretinate Therapy

Abstract

From January 1976 to April 1982 etretinate was used to treat patients with morbus Darier (25 patients), pustulosis palmo-plantaris (72 patients), psoriasis (79 patients), and hyperkeratotic eczema of hands and feet (eczema keratoticum; 41 patients). Dosage of etretinate ranged between 0.5 and 1.0 mg/kg/day. In a retrospective survey at April 1 1982, we observed a beneficial effect of the drug in all patients with morbus Darier, in 85% of patients with pustulosis palmo-plantaris, in 69% with psoriasis, and in 93% with eczema keratoticum. Many patients experienced side effects. Within 9 months more than half of the patients had stopped treatment primarily due to side effects, except patients with morbus Darier, whose median duration of treatment was 34 months with a range from 7 to 60 months. We will recommend that etretinate is used during short-term or intermittent courses of therapy, except in patients with morbus Darier, where a low dosage of etretinate is able to give a beneficial clinical effect.

PUVA, Etretinate, and PUVA-Etretinate Therapy for Pustulosis Palmoplantaris

“…The combination of PUVA and etretinate has been shown to enhance the therapeutic response in severe psoriasis.31718 In an open study of PPP, the lesions cleared in all 12 patients.17 In another recent placebocontrolled study, PUVA-etretinate cleared the lesions in all ten patients, whereas only five of nine patients in the placebo-PUVA group showed com¬ plete clearance. 19 The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of PUVA-etretinate, PUVA, and etretinate treat¬ ment in severe PPP, utilizing a randomized, con¬ trolled trial design.…”