RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is a chronic recurrent disease requiring long-term treatment; therefore, special attention is warranted when prescribing cyclosporine A (CsA) for patients diagnosed with psoriasis. Various forms of maintenance therapy have been suggested to reduce the incidence of adverse events associated with CsA use. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of the three aforementioned CsA therapies for management of patients with psoriasis. METHODS: Patients fulfilling our selection criteria were selected for the study. CsA therapy (2.5∼5 mg/kg/day) was administered for 12 weeks, and patients who showed remission following this treatment were administered maintenance therapy. Patients with successful induction of response were randomly assigned to three treatment groups. Group A was the continuous regimen group (2∼3 mg/kg/day). Group B was the pulsed regimen group (4 mg/kg/day for 4 days, 3 days of discontinuation). Group C was the weekend regimen group (5 mg/kg/day for 2 days, 5 days of discontinuation). Patients were followed up on an outpatient basis at 4-week intervals to monitor treatment effects. RESULTS: In each group, the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) and body surface area (BSA) values decreased in a similar fashion from visit 1 to visit 4 and at the time of the final visit 7. In each group, dermatology life quality index (DLQI) values showed statistically significant differences between pre- and post-treatment states; however, no inter-group differences were observed. Although adverse events such as elevated blood pressure and serum creatinine levels were slightly higher in the intermittent group, there was no significant inter-group difference. CONCLUSION: The pulsed regimen did not show a major difference in treatment effects compared to the everyday use group. We propose that the patient's age, presence of underlying diseases, lifestyle patterns, and convenience of use should be considered while determining the type of regimen administered to a patient.