title: A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of acitretin for the treatment of psoriasis.
abstract: Acitretin, the active metabolite of etretinate, has the clinical advantage of a much shorter terminal elimination half-life. We report the results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of acitretin (Soriatane) in 15 patients with moderate to severe psoriasis. Patients received 25 mg or 50 mg daily of acitretin or placebo in a double-blind fashion for 8 weeks and then were given 25 to 75 mg acitretin daily during an open study. Only two placebo patients completed the double-blind phase; one patient's psoriasis worsened, and one showed no significant change. All 15 patients then completed at least 8 weeks with 25 to 75 mg acitretin daily, with a moderate change in erythema, scaling, and induration (mean 28% to 37% improvement) but with minimal change in the percentage of body surface area involved. Prolonged treatment (greater than or equal to 20 weeks) with acitretin resulted in further significant improvement and a 44% reduction of involved surface area from baseline.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710.
authors.forename: E A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.forename: W W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Weed
authors.forename: C J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Cobo
mesh_terms: D017255:Acitretin; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D014212:Tretinoin; D017255:Acitretin