Comparison of systemic PUVA and NB-UVB in the treatment of vitiligo: an open prospective study.
BACKGROUND
Vitiligo is a common pigmentary disorder with great cosmetic and psychological morbidity. No treatment available is a definitive cure. Systemic psoralen and ultraviolet A (PUVA) has been the mainstay of treatment. Narrow-band ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) has been recently introduced. Although retrospective comparative study of systemic PUVA and NB-UVB has been published from our centre, no prospective study has been reported to date.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the position of NB-UVB vis-à-vis PUVA in terms of efficacy, time to repigment and adverse effects and to help decide if one therapy has an advantage over another in the treatment of vitiligo.


METHODS
It was a randomized, open, prospective study of 50 patients divided equally in TMP PUVA and NB-UVB groups. The study period was from January 2004 to June 2005.


RESULTS
The mean degree of repigmentation attained in the NB-UVB group was 52.24% over a mean treatment period of 6.3 months, whereas in the PUVA group it was 44.7% in a mean period of 5.6 months (P=0.144). After excluding the results of therapy-resistant sites, that is, hands and feet, the mean degree of repigmentation in the NB-UVB group was 67.57%, whereas in the PUVA group it was 54.2% (P=0.007).


CONCLUSIONS
NB-UVB performed better in comparison to TMP PUVA in terms of mean total repigmentation when traditionally considered therapy-resistant sites were excluded.
Bhatnagar
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Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
Kanwar
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Parsad
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D000328:Adult; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004307:Dose-Response Relationship, Radiation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011701:PUVA Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014467:Ultraviolet Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D014820:Vitiligo / Q000188:drug therapy*