Suplatast/tacrolimus combination therapy for refractory facial erythema in adult patients with atopic dermatitis: a meta-analysis study.
BACKGROUND
Combination of suplatast tosilate with tacrolimus ointment was reported to reduce the dose of tacrolimus ointment with maintained treatment efficacy for refractory facial erythema in atopic dermatitis (AD), however these were only case-controlled studies and the number of cases was not sufficiently large. Thus, the efficacy of a combination therapy of tacrolimus ointment and suplatast tosilate for treating AD including refractory facial erythema was investigated using a method of meta-analysis on the basis of published papers collected by database search.


METHODS
We searched the literature on the efficacy of a combination of topical tacrolimus and suplatast tosilate for refractory facial erythema in patients with adult atopic dermatitis, and related data were collected for meta-analysis.


RESULTS
Our meta-analysis study showed that suplatast/tacrolimus combination therapy revealed better improvement in skin symptom scores and significantly decreased the dose of tacrolimus compared with topical tacrolimus monotherapy. In addition, a significantly greater number of patients could stop using tacrolimus ointment by using the combination with suplatast tosilate than by tacrolimus monotherapy for refractory facial erythema.


CONCLUSIONS
The combination therapy with suplatast tosilate decreased the effective dosage of tacrolimus ointment supporting use of the combination therapy for refractory facial erythema.
Miyachi
Yoshiki
Y
Department of Dermatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan. dermatol@kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Katayama
Ichiro
I
Furue
Masutaka
M
D000328:Adult; D018926:Anti-Allergic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001190:Arylsulfonates / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000188:drug therapy; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D004890:Erythema / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005145:Face; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D013452:Sulfonium Compounds / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016559:Tacrolimus / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D018926:Anti-Allergic Agents; D001190:Arylsulfonates; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D013452:Sulfonium Compounds; C073028:suplatast tosilate; D016559:Tacrolimus