title: Intermittent cyclosporin A treatment of severe plaque psoriasis. Long-term follow-up of 26 patients.
abstract: The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term effects of intermittent Cyclosporin A treatment of severe plaque psoriasis. For this purpose we considered the clinical records of 26 patients who had been intermittently treated with Cyclosporin A for 2 to 4 years. All 26 patients had severe plaque-type psoriasis (PASI score > 18) that was unresponsive to conventional treatment. The initial Cyclosporin A dosage was 5 mg/kg/day in 8 cases and 3 mg/kg/day in 18 cases. In all patients, Cyclosporin A treatment was prolonged until complete or nearly complete remission of psoriasis (mean 2 months; range 1-4 months). All patients subsequently underwent a 2-4 months maintenance treatment with Cyclosporin A dosages that were gradually reduced until tapering off. In order to maintain clinical improvement after Cyclosporin A withdrawal, patients were treated with topical steroids, topical tar, emollients and UVA exposure and/or eliotherapy. Cyclosporin A treatment (2.5-3 mg/kg/day) was reintroduced only when clinical relapses reached a PASI score of 12 or more. Duration and dosages of Cyclosporin A cycles were always adapted for the purpose of obtaining an improvement acceptable to the patient (PASI < 8) rather than total clearance of psoriasis. So far, the 26 patients have undergone 3-5 cycles of therapy with low doses of Cyclosporin A. None of these 26 patients interrupted Cyclosporin A treatment because of side effects. In conclusion, in our experience cyclic CyA treatment is effective for the long-term treatment of psoriatic patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, University of Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Peluso
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bardazzi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tosti
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Varotti
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016572:Cyclosporine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011565:Psoriasis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D016572:Cyclosporine