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Prognostic factors in methylprednisolone pulse therapy for alopecia areata
Author(s) -
IM Myung,
LEE Sang Sin,
LEE Young,
KIM Chang Deok,
SEO Young Joon,
LEE Jeung Hoon,
PARK Jang Kyu
Publication year - 2011
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/j.1346-8138.2010.01135.x
Subject(s) - alopecia areata , medicine , methylprednisolone , scalp , dermatology , hair loss , alopecia universalis , surgery
Many treatments induce remission in patients with alopecia areata. Systemic steroids, for example, are effective in the treatment of severe alopecia areata but have many side‐effects. To avoid these side‐effects, high‐dose bolus infusions of methylprednisolone have been used to treat severe alopecia areata. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic factors associated with pulse therapy and to establish proper indications for methylprednisolone pulse therapy. Seventy patients with severe alopecia areata were treated i.v. with methylprednisolone on 3 consecutive days. All of the patients had rapid and extensive hair loss with the bald area exceeding 50% of the scalp. Seventy percent of the patients showed terminal hair growth and 41.4% showed complete responses with acceptable cosmetic outcomes. The prognostic factors that influenced successful outcome were the disease duration before treatment and the type of alopecia areata. Based on these two factors, a good response was obtained for all types of alopecia areata with a duration of 3 months or less before treatment and for the plurifocal type of alopecia areata with a duration of 4–6 months. Methylprednisolone pulse therapy is indicated for those alopecia areata patients who fall within our good response group.