Objective:
Efficacy of systemic retinoid therapy of nail psoriasis has never been assessed objectively. Evaluate therapeutic efficacy of acitretin in patients with isolated nail psoriasis.
Design:
Open-study on thirty-six patients with moderate to severe nail psoriasis treated with acitretin.
Participants:
Patients included 27 men and 9 women (mean age 41) with nail psoriasis. Intervention: Therapy consisted of acitretin 0.2 to 0.3 mg/Kg/day for 6 months.
Main Outcome Measure(s):
Clinical evaluation, NAPSI and modified NAPSI scores before therapy, every 2 months during therapy and 6 months after treatment.
Primary Outcome Measures:
- correlate clinical improvement with % reduction in the NAPSI Score [ Time Frame: 6 months ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
| Enrollment: |
36 |
| Study Start Date: |
January 2005 |
| Study Completion Date: |
July 2008 |
| Primary Completion Date: |
January 2007 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure) |
The Nail Psoriasis Severity Index (NAPSI) has been designed and successfully implemented to grade severity of psoriatic nail disease. Moreover, the utilization of the NAPSI score and a modified version of this severity index score as an instrument to monitor response to therapy has been recently documented in the medical literature .This open study involves thirty-six patients with moderate to severe nail psoriasis treated with low-dose acitretin from January 2005 to January 2007.Acitretin was given at the dosage of 0.2 to 0.3 mg/Kg/day for 6 months. Laboratory investigations and clinical evaluation, which included photographic record and scoring of NAPSI and modified NAPSI, were performed every 2 months. Investigator evaluation was performed using a 0 (no improvement) to 3 (cleared or almost cleared) score Treatment satisfaction by patients and tolerability were assessed at each visit. All patients were followed for at least 6 months after the end of treatment.
Purpose
