This is a multicentric, observational and controlled study designed to verify the existence of a significant association between plaque-type psoriasis and oral lesions, such as geographic tongue ...and/or fissured tongue.
during a period of 9 months all consecutive patients with plaque-type psoriasis were enrolled using simple nonrandom (sequential) sampling. The control group included healthy subjects presenting to the same Dermatology centers to monitor pigmented skin lesions; the patients were matched for age and sex. All patients were examined for oral lesions.
Out of a total of 535 psoriatic patients and 436 control group patients, oral mucosal lesions were detected in 188 (35.1%) and 86 (19.7%) cases, respectively, and the difference is statistically significant. Fissured tongue (FT) and geographic tongue (GT), which were most frequently detected, were seen more frequently in psoriatic patients (FT: 22.6%; GT: 9.1%) than the control group (FT: 10.3%; GT: 5.2%) (p<0.05).
On the basis of the similar studies reported in the literature and the large number of patients involved in our study, we can conclude that FT and GT can be clearly suggested as oral manifestations of plaque-type psoriasis, although the reason for this association is not clear.
It is well known that UVB therapy of psoriasis vulgaris is potentiated by the association with topical and oral drugs, while till now there have been very few reports on the association between UVB ...and calcipotriol. In order to evaluate the efficacy and tolerance of this association, we studied 19 patients with psoriasis vulgaris of mild severity (PASI: 5-10). Each patient was treated with UVB and invited to apply calcipotriol 50 micrograms/g ointment twice a day on one lesion usually on elbows or knees in order to compare it with the opposite side. The evaluation of each lesion was performed before and after 4 weeks of therapy. Our data show that the association between UVB and calcipotriol is significantly more effective than UVB therapy alone: 17 out of 19 patients (89%) showed a greater improvement with UVB plus calcipotriol as compared to UVB alone.
Objective
The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of the association of calcipotriol ointment (50 μg/g) plus cyclosporine versus cyclosporine alone in the treatment of ...moderate psoriasis (mean PASI: 13).
Methods
Twenty patients were enrolled in this right‐left open study. All the patients admitted were treated with cylosporine at an initial dose of 4.5 mg/kg/day; in case of clinical improvement this dosage was reduced by 0.5 mg/kg/day every 15 days. In each patient we chose two similar, symmetrical lesions and calcipotriol ointment was applied only on the right lesion, twice a day, until the healing of the lesion or for 1 month. Patients were checked at baseline and every 15 days.
Results
Eighteen patients completed the study and 17 of the 18 presented more evident improvement on the side treated with combined therapy, while only one patient showed a better result on the side treated with cyclosporine alone. A significant difference of the total score was already present after 15 days of therapy and was confirmed at the following check‐ups.
Conclusions
These results underline the usefulness of the association of calcipotriol and cyclosporine in order to decrease the total dosage of cyclosporine.
Studies on scalp hair from psoriatic lesions have revealed marked irregularities in the cuticular pattern. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of hair shaft disorders in psoriatic ...patients and to evaluate the possibility of a correlation with scalp involvement. We examined hair from 39 psoriatic patients using scanning electron microscopy and compared it with hair from a control group of 12 healthy people. We confined our observations of the hair fibres to the areas nearest the root. Our data confirm previous observations indicating that dystrophic changes in hair cuticle cells occur more often in hairs from both unaffected and affected skin of psoriatic patients compared with normal subjects. No differences were observed between hair shafts taken from affected and unaffected psoriatic areas; cuticular breakage and an abraded cuticular surface were present only in the hair of psoriatic patients.
The nails in psoriatic arthritis Lavaroni, G; Kokelj, F; Pauluzzi, P ...
Acta dermato-venereologica. Supplementum,
1994, Letnik:
186
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Nail involvement is often present in patients suffering from psoriatic arthritis. Up to the present, no data concerning the rate of onychopathy associated with psoriatic arthropathy have been ...reported. 52 patients with psoriatic arthropathy have been studied with particular attention to the possible presence of and the typical features of onychopathy. Nail changes were noted in 86.5% of patients affected by arthropathic psoriasis. The commonest toenail alteration was subungual hyperkeratosis, while the most frequent fingernail change was pitting.
Calcipotriol is a synthetic analogue of vitamin D, used in the treatment of psoriasis. Until now no specific sid-effects have been described after combined therapy with calcipotriol and UV. We ...describe 3 patients, who in the summer of 1993, after a combined treatment of calcipotriol and heliotherapy, developed hyperpigmentation in the site where the ointment had been applied. Hyperpigmentation healed spontaneously in less than 7 months. To the best of our knowledge there are no other reports of this side-effect due to calcipotriol. In our opinion the fact that the 3 patients presented the hyperpigmentation only on the treated lesions and that, in the past, they had not presented similar lesions after exposure to sunlight confirms the relationship between the hyperpigmentation and the combined treatment used.