Patient-reported Outcomes and Clinical Response in Patients with Moderate-to-severe Plaque Psoriasis Treated with Tonsillectomy: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with profound effects on patients' health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Twenty-nine patients with plaque psoriasis and a history of streptococcal-associated psoriasis exacerbations were randomly assigned to tonsillectomy (n = 15) or control (n = 14) groups and followed for 24 months. Patients were evaluated with the Psoriasis Disability Index, Psoriasis Life Stress Inventory and Psoriasis Area and Severity Index. HRQoL and psoriasis-related stress improved significantly in the tonsillectomy group compared with the control group (p = 0.037 and p = 0.002, respectively), with a mean 50% improvement in HRQoL and a mean 59% improvement in psoriasis-induced stress. Clinical improvement correlated significantly with improved HRQoL (r = 0.297, p = 0.008) and psoriasis-related stress (r = 0.310, p = 0.005). Of the tonsillectomized patients, 87% concluded that the procedure was worthwhile. Tonsillectomy may improve quality of life for selected patients with plaque psoriasis.

Improvement of psoriasis after tonsillectomy is associated with a decrease in the frequency of circulating T cells that recognize streptococcal determinants and homologous skin determinants.

Exacerbation of chronic psoriasis can be associated with streptococcal throat infections, and T cells that respond to peptide sequences common to streptococcal M proteins and skin keratins have been detected in patients' blood. To our knowledge, we have conducted the first blinded, prospective study to assess the impact of tonsillectomy on psoriasis. Twenty-nine patients with chronic psoriasis and history of exacerbation after sore throat were randomly assigned to tonsillectomy (n = 15) or control (n = 14) groups and monitored for 2 y clinically and by enumeration of circulating skin homing T cells that respond to short homologous M protein or keratin peptides. Thirteen patients (86%) showed sustained improvement after tonsillectomy ranging from 30 to 90% reduction in disease severity. Furthermore, there was a close correlation between the degree of clinical improvement in individual patients and reduction in the frequency of peptide-reactive skin-homing T cells in their circulation. No corresponding clinical or immunologic changes were observed among the controls. These findings indicate that tonsillectomy may have a beneficial effect on chronic psoriasis because the palatine tonsils generate effector T cells that recognize keratin determinants in the skin.