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Proactive treatment with calcipotriol reduces recurrence of plaque psoriasis
Author(s) -
Ito Kotaro,
Koga Monji,
Shibayama Yoshitsugu,
Tatematsu Saori,
Nakayama Juichiro,
Imafuku Shinichi
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.9
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1346-8138
pISSN - 0385-2407
DOI - 10.1111/1346-8138.13158
Subject(s) - calcipotriol , medicine , dermatology , psoriasis , depigmentation , lesion , plaque psoriasis , stage (stratigraphy) , surgery , paleontology , biology
Abstract Topical calcipotriol is a widely used treatment for plaque‐type psoriasis worldwide, and has been shown to improve psoriatic plaques as well as very potent corticosteroids. However, there remains the practical question of whether calcipotriol application should continue on healed pigmentation/depigmentation associated with psoriatic plaques. Therefore, we conducted a pilot clinical study to answer this question. Plaque‐type psoriatic patients not receiving systemic treatment were enrolled and treated with calcipotriol for 8 weeks (stage I) to achieve maximum effect. The patients were then divided into two groups: group A continued to apply calcipotriol to the entirety of the previous lesion (including pigmentation/depigmentation) regardless of whether skin was healed or not, while group B applied calcipotriol to the remaining lesion only. Patients were followed for 12 weeks (stage II ) and dates of plaque recurrence were recorded. A total of 29 patients (13 men, 16 women) were enrolled. During stage I, reductions in scores for redness, induration and scale occurred in 40%, 47% and 55% of patients, respectively. After stage II was completed, group A ( n = 19) showed a significantly better Kaplan–Meier curve of non‐recurrence than group B ( n = 8, P < 0.01). The mean non‐recurrence duration was 76.8 ± 11.8 in group A and 35.0 ± 12.0 in group B. Our study showed that applying topical calcipotriol on seemingly healed psoriatic plaque lesions suppresses recurrence better than applying it only on remaining plaques. This finding may be important for instructing psoriatic patients on topical calcipotriol treatment.