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Cancer Resources > Cancer News > Cancer News from Reuters > Reuters Cancer News > 2009 > November
Efficacy of PUVA against plaque psoriasis quantified in controlled trial
Last Updated: 2009-11-03 14:04:07 -0400 (Reuters Health)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Oral psoralen plus ultraviolet A (PUVA) is one of the most effective treatments for chronic plaque-type psoriasis, but now researchers have quantified its efficacy using a well known scoring system.
In a randomized trial reported in the November Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, Dr. S. Priya Sivanesan from the University of Pittsburgh and colleagues set as the primary endpoint a 75% or greater improvement in the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index score (PASI 75) after 12 weeks of treatment.
Thirty patients with plaque-type psoriasis were treated with PUVA, and another 10 were treated with UVA plus placebo. The treatment and placebo groups were compared in three different analyses.
In the nonresponder imputation analysis, 60% achieved PASI 75 after 12 weeks of PUVA, compared with 0% of the placebo group. In this analysis, 70% of the PUVA group and 10% of the placebo group achieved PASI 50 after 12 weeks.
In an intent-to-treat analysis with last observation carried forward, 63% of the PUVA group and 0% of the placebo group achieved PASI 75.
Finally, in the per protocol analysis, PASI 75 was reached by 86% in the PUVA group and 0% in the placebo group. Per protocol analysis also showed average improvements in PASI score of 82.3% with PUVA and 32.8% with placebo.
PUVA was generally well tolerated by most patients without serious systemic side effects, the investigators say.
"Further studies that involve head-to-head comparisons of PUVA with other treatment modalities are needed," the authors conclude.
J Am Acad Dermatol 2009;61:793-798.
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