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Multiple courses of pulse corticosteroid therapy for alopecia areata
Author(s) -
Yoshimasu Takashi,
Kanazawa Nobuo,
Yamamoto Yuki,
Furukawa Fukumi
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 - 10.1111/1346-8138.13388
Subject(s) - vellus hair , alopecia areata , hair loss , medicine , corticosteroid , dermatology , methylprednisolone , pulse (music) , adverse effect , scalp , detector , electrical engineering , engineering
Various systemic corticosteroid therapies are used for alopecia areata ( AA ). Pulse therapy using methylprednisolone is a treatment approach for AA . The efficacy of multiple courses of pulse therapy for various severities of AA was evaluated. AA patients with less than 50% hair loss, less than or equal to 6 months after AA onset, needed 1.9 courses of pulse therapy for vellus hair to develop. On the other hand, AA patients with more than 50% hair loss, less than 6 months after AA onset, needed more courses of pulse therapy for vellus hair to develop. Regardless of the disease duration, AA patients with less than 50% hair loss showed a good response rate (100%) after both a short period and a long period after therapy. After receiving multiple courses of pulse therapy, the AA patients with more than 50% hair loss also showed improvement with limited adverse reactions.