Pso-Reg: a web registry for psoriasis in real life.

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis (PsO) is a common immune mediated inflammatory disease, affecting about 60 million people worldwide. Although current therapies have dramatically changed the therapeutic approach to the disease, the heterogeneity of responses often results in an essential unmet clinical need. This study describes the design and development of the Psoriasis Registry (Pso-Reg), an Italian electronic-based-registry, aimed to collect real life data of patients with psoriasis. METHODS: Pso-Reg is a multicenter, retrospective and observational cohort study based on the Research Electronic Data Capture (REDcap) tool. Five Italian medical centres were part of the network and all patients affected by PsO were included in the study. Socio-demographic, clinical characteristics, laboratory findings and therapies were collected, and descriptive analysis was carried out. RESULTS: Among the 768 patients analyzed, 446 were men (58.1%), with a mean age of 55.5 years. The first more frequent comorbidity was psoriatic arthritis (26.8%), followed by hypertension (25.3%), diabetes (10%) and dyslipidemia (11.7%). Of the entire cohort, 240 patients (38.2%) had a positive family history for PsO. Vulgar type was the most common phenotype (85.5%), with a major involvement of the scalp (13.8%). The mean PASI (Psoriasis Area Severity Index) score at the baseline was 7.5 (7.8). At the enrolment, 107 patients were treated with topic treatments (13.9%), 5 with phototherapy (0.7%), 92 with cDMARDs (conventional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs) (12.0%) and 471 with biologic therapies (61.3%). CONCLUSIONS: Real-life data from Pso-Reg could contribute providing the rationale for an individual-based strategy and a more tailored approach for the management of psoriasis.

Anti-IL23for nail psoriasis in real life: Results of efficacy and safety during a 52-week period.

Nail psoriasis (NP) is often considered disfiguring for patients with a relevant impact on quality of life (QoL). It is also difficult to treat for dermatologists who are often frustrated by the scarcity of effective therapeutic alternatives in this particular location. Topical therapies are often used as the first-line treatment for mild NP, but efficacy is the modest. Conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (cDMARDs) (e.g., cyclosporine, methotrexate, acitretin, and dimethyl fumarate) are generally avoided in NP without general cutaneous involvement. Biologics represent, to date, a concrete possibility for the management of these patients. The data from the clinical trials are encouraging, although there are still few data in real-life. Here, we report a study conducted at Siena University Hospital on 20 patients with NP on both hands and feet treated with anti-IL23 for 52 weeks. No differences were evaluated from baseline to week 4 of anti-IL-23 treatment. NAPSI greatly improved at week 24 with almost 60% of patients reaching NAPSI75 and 40% NAPSI50. At week 52, almost 75% of patients reached NAPSI90. No adverse effects were reported in the patients in the study. The clinical response observed in these patients suggests that treatments that target interleukin-23 may be an effective option for NP, especially when refractory to conventional therapies.

Italian expert-based recommendations on the use of photo(chemo)therapy in the management of mycosis fungoides: Results of an e-Delphi consensus.

BACKGROUND: Phototherapy is a mainstay for the treatment of MF. However, there is scarce evidence for its use, mostly due to the lack of a unified schedule. AIMS: The primary aim of this study was to establish the first structured, expert-based consensus regarding the indications and technical schedules of NB-UVB and PUVA for MF. The secondary aim was to determine the consensus level for each specific item. MATERIALS & METHODS: E-delphi study. Item-specific expert consensus was defined as the number of "Totally Agree" results to ≥80% of the panelists. Cronbach alpha index ≥0.7 was used as a measure of homogeneity in the responses among questions related to the same topic. RESULTS: Overall, there was a high homogeneity among responders (0.78). On specific topics, the highest grade was observed for technical items (0.8) followed by indications for early (0.73) and advanced stages (0.7). CONCLUSIONS: Items related to the most canonical indications of phototherapy and to treatment schedules showed the highest agreements rates. There is consensus about the use of standardized treatment schedules for the induction and consolidation phases for NB-UVB and PUVA in MF.

Clinical and histological evaluation in patients with mycosis fungoides treated with UVA1.

BACKGROUND: UVA1 phototherapy is a valid therapeutic alternative for skin lymphoproliferative disorders, although there are few studies concerning its role in mycosis fungoides (MF). Our aim was to evaluate and confirm the effectiveness of UVA1 phototherapy in patients in early stage MF. METHODS: We enrolled 12 patients, 9 males and 3 females (mean age 54.83±9.99, range 36-74) with a histological diagnosis of mycosis fungoides at early stage. All patients were treated with UVA1 for 22 sessions with two different protocols (3 times or 5 times per week) at the dose of 45 J/cm2. A punch biopsy was performed before and after the treatment, to evaluate the variation of histological features and of the proliferation index (Ki67/MIB1). RESULTS: At the end of the study, we found a marked clinical improvement in all patients, associated to a statistically significant reduction of the proliferation index Ki67/MIB1. Five patients achieved a complete clinical and histological response, while six a partial one and only one a minimal response. CONCLUSIONS: Although in recent years the number of the therapeutic options available for all types of skin lymphoproliferative disorders, in particular mycosis fungoides, has increased considerably, there are few studies concerning UVA1 phototherapy. Our results represent a starting point for further studies, in order to investigate the role that these UV-rays can play either alone or in combination with other therapeutic regimens.