Synchronous Balneophototherapy for Psoriasis

Title: Synchronous balneophototherapy is effective for the different clinical types of psoriasis.
Authors
: Hollo P, et al.
Publication: J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2005 Sep;19(5):578-81.

The authors wanted to evaluate the efficacy of synchronous balneophototherapy (combination of salt and ultraviolet B radiation therapy) for different clinical types of psoriasis. This therapy was performed according to the Regensburg scheme, which consisted of 35 treatment sessions, followed by a maintenance course of 25 sessions.

The authors enrolled 373 patients and assessed their progress with the evaluating their PASI (Psoriasis Area and Severity Index) scores. The authors found that:

  • 70.7% of patients had improved psoriasis during the basic treatment. The average PASI index decreased from 16.14 to 4.73.
  • The maintenance course resulted in improvement of the average PASI score from 4.58 to 4.27

When compared with types of psoriasis lesions, the authors found that:

  • Small plaque-type skin lesions responded best with a PASI decrease of 76.1%
  • Guttate lesions (those shaped like drops) had a PASI decrease f 73.7%
  • Large plaques had a PASI decrease of 67.1%
  • Conflating or large lesions that melded together had a PASI decrease of 62%.

The authors concluded that the synchronous balneophototherapy is an effective treatment for the various lesion-types of psoriasis, with patients suffering from small plaques having the best chance of best improvement, and patients with guttate and large plaque types also responding well.


Editor’s Note: PASI is a composite measure of erythema (redness of the skin), induration (hardening of the skin), desquamation (flaking or shedding of skin) and body surface area affected by psoriasis. It is evaluated for the head, trunk, upper and lower limbs. The index ranges between 0 (clear) to 72 (maximum severity).







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