Comparison of D-PUVA with Conventional PUVA in the Treatment of Korean Psoriasis Patients / 대한피부과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: PUVA photochemotherapy has been accepted as an effective mode of treatment for psoriasis. Many combination therapies have been tried to reduce the possible adverse effects of long-term exposure to UV radiation. OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to compare calcipotriol-PUVA combination therapy(D-PUVA) with conventional PUVA in the treatment of Korean psoriasis patients. METHODS: We treated 38 Korean psoriasis patients with conventional PUVA and 12 with D-PUVA. We compared the total number, duration and total UVA dose of PUVA therapy to reach grade 4 between the two groups. We categorized each patient into clearing, improvement, or failure groups based on the therapeutic efficacy, and measured the PASI score at each of the patients visits. RESULTS: The total cumulative dose of D-PUVA phototherapy was significantly smaller than PUVA phototherapy. CONCLUSION: Combining PUVA with a vitamin D analogue, calcipotriol, in the treatment of psoriasis may lead to lowering the risk of long-term exposure to UV radiation with higher efficacy.