Background: Although PUVA treatment of psoriasis is more effective than conventional or broad-band UVB phototherapy, two small studies have suggested that narrow-band or TL-01 phototherapy may have a therapeutic effect equal to PUVA. If confirmed, this would be of considerable importance as TL-01 therapy is likely to be considerably safer in the long term than PUVA.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare PUVA with narrow-band (TL-01) phototherapy in psoriasis.
Methods: We studied 100 patients with plaque-type psoriasis who were randomly allocated to twice-weekly treatment with PUVA or narrow-band UVB.
Results: Clearance of psoriasis was achieved in a significantly greater proportion of patients treated with PUVA (84%) than with TL-01 (63%) (P = .018), and with significantly fewer treatments (median number of treatments for clearance with PUVA, 16.7; with TL-01, 25.3; P = .001). Only 12% of those treated with TL-01 were clear of psoriasis 6 months after finishing treatment compared with 35% for PUVA (p = .002).
Conclusion: When given twice weekly, PUVA is more effective for psoriasis than narrow-band UVB phototherapy.
Gordon PM, Diffey BL, Matthews JNS, Farr PM. A randomized comparison of narrow-band TL-01 phototherapy and psoralen-UVA photochemotherapy for psoriasis. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 41, 728-732.
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