Effective treatment with photodynamic therapy of cutaneous leishmaniasis: A case report.

Leishmaniasis is a vector borne disease transmitted by phlebotomine sandflies. Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) predominantly causes skin ulcers but may disseminate. CL may present a therapeutic challenge. The present study reports the case of a 15-year old boy with CL consisting of a single, ulcer on the leg, resistant to pentavalent antimony, oral fluconazole and topical ketoconazole therapy. Repeated photodynamic therapy using aminolevulinic acid resulted in complete healing of the ulcer, suggesting utility of this approach in resistant cases of CL.

Clinical and Histological Characteristics of Mycosis Fungoides and Sézary Syndrome: A Retrospective, Single-centre Study of 43 Patients from Eastern Denmark.

Diagnosis of mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome can be very challenging. Clinical and histopathological data for patients with mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome in Denmark are limited. A retrospective study was performed in Region Zealand, Denmark from 1990 to 2016. A total of 43 patients with mycosis fungoides or Sézary syndrome were identified during the period. At the time of diagnosis the patients' mean age was 64.3 years and 74.5% had early-stage (≤IIA) disease. The mean time from onset of skin disease to diagnosis was 4.4 years. Surprisingly, 43% progressed to a higher disease stage, and risk of disease progression was higher for stage IB than IA (p = 0.01). All cases displayed some degree of epidermotropism and the infiltrates consisted of pleomorphic lymphocytes with a T-helper (CD4+/CD8-) phenotype. This study describes, for the first time, all aspects of clinical and histopathological findings in patients with mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome in a well-characterized Danish cohort.

Correlation between treatment time, photobleaching, inflammation and pain after photodynamic therapy with methyl aminolevulinate on tape-stripped skin in healthy volunteers.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an attractive treatment option for skin diseases such as actinic keratosis, since large skin areas can be treated with high response rates and good cosmetic outcomes. Nevertheless inflammation and pain are still major side effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which less time-consuming PDT treatment regimens using methyl aminolevulinate (MAL) decrease protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) photobleaching, inflammation and pain. Twenty-four healthy volunteers were treated with 4 different interventions on each forearm. All 8 fields were tape-stripped 10 times. On the right arm MAL was applied for 20, 40, 60 or 180 min, followed by further incubation after wiping off MAL until 180 min after start and then illuminating with red light 180 min after start. On the left arm MAL or vehicle was applied for 30, 60, or 90 min and illuminated immediately after MAL removal. PpIX fluorescence, photobleaching, objective and subjective erythema (as a measure for inflammation), pigmentation and pain were measured. The results showed a significant correlation between incubation time, time until illumination and photobleaching. Furthermore, there was a significant correlation between photobleaching and erythema and also between photobleaching and pain. In conclusion, shorter PDT regimens result in decreased photobleaching and also less inflammation and pain. We hypothesize that a shorter incubation time is important for the optimal specific subcellular distribution of PpIX and to avoid unspecific distribution. We propose a shorter PDT regimen, "Pulse PDT", comprising, for example 30 min incubation with MAL and illumination after 180 min, and we have planned a study of actinic keratosis and "Pulse PDT".

The relation between methyl aminolevulinate concentration and inflammation after photodynamic therapy in healthy volunteers.

Inflammation and pain are well known adverse-effects in photodynamic therapy (PDT). There is currently a tendency towards introducing lower concentrations of the photosensitizer than used in the standard treatment for various indications. The aim of this study was to investigate whether reduced concentrations of methyl aminolevulinate (MAL) can reduce inflammation (erythema) during PDT treatment. We measured the formation of protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) using fluorescence and monitored both erythema and pain during and after PDT treatment with conventional 16% MAL and threee reduced concentrations of 2, 0.75, and 0.25% in twenty-four healthy volunteers. We found that lowering the MAL concentration reduced PpIX fluorescence and erythema after PDT treatment. There was a strong correlation (R(2) = 0.70) between the PpIX fluorescence and erythema after treatment. A further increase in erythema after PDT was dependent on pre-treatment skin erythema. PpIX fluorescence could explain 70% of the increase in erythema (P < 0.0005). Pain and post-treatment hyperpigmentation can be reduced but not eliminated by limiting the MAL concentration. An efficacy study of PDT with these three reduced concentrations has not been performed.

Augmenting clozapine with sertindole: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study.

Clozapine augmentation with antipsychotic drugs is widely used despite sparse evidence supporting this strategy. Sertindole is a nonsedating atypical antipsychotic drug with low affinity for cholinergic receptors, which makes it potentially suitable for augmentation of clozapine. The study design was a 12-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study including patients with International Statistical Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision schizophrenia (F20.0-F20.3) and treated with clozapine for at least 6 months who had not achieved sufficient response. Patients were randomized 1:1 to either sertindole 16 mg or placebo, and assessment was done at baseline and after 6 and 12 weeks. Assessment included the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Clinical Global Impression, Udvalg for Kliniske Undersøgelser, World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief, Drug Attitude Inventory, fasting glucose, lipids, and electrocardiogram. Clozapine augmentation with sertindole was not superior to placebo regarding total score or subscale score of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Clinical Global Impression, World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief, or Drug Attitude Inventory. No increased adverse effects compared with placebo were found. Four patients randomized to sertindole experienced a significant worsening of psychosis, and 2 of them required psychiatric admission. Metabolic parameters were unchanged during the study, but augmentation of clozapine with sertindole was associated with a 12-millisecond (SD, 20-millisecond) QTc prolongation compared with 0 millisecond (SD, 20 milliseconds) in the placebo group (P < 0.03). Augmentation with sertindole showed no benefits compared with placebo. Psychiatrists should be aware that augmentation might not add any benefits for the patients and in some cases worsen psychosis.

Continuous ultra-low-intensity artificial daylight is not as effective as red LED light in photodynamic therapy of multiple actinic keratoses.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Daylight-mediated photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a simple and tolerable treatment of nonmelanoma skin cancer. It is of interest which light intensity is sufficient to prevent accumulation of protoporphyrin IX (PpIX) and effectively treat actinic keratoses (AKs). We compared the efficacy of PDT with light-emitting diode (LED) to daylight-mediated PDT with very low-intensity artificial daylight ('daylight') in the treatment of multiple AKs in the face or scalp. METHODS: Twenty patients were treated with conventional methyl aminolevulinate (MAL) PDT in one area. Another area was, after half an hour of occlusive treatment with MAL, illuminated for 2.5 h with low-intensity 'daylight' (0.5 mW/cm(2) -3.7 mW/cm(2)) that corresponds to midday outdoor intensity in the Scandinavian winter. RESULTS: After 3 months, with a response rate of 52%, low-dose artificial daylight was less effective than conventional LED-PDT (63%) (P = 0.0017). The mean PpIX light dose during 'daylight' exposure was 2.23 J/cm(2) and the lower the PpIX light intensity, the higher the accumulation of PpIX (P = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Even very low-intensity/dose artificial daylight-mediated PDT of multiple AKs resulted in a response rate of more than 50%. However, to ensure efficacies equivalent to conventional LED-PDT, the treatment should not be conducted on very overcast days.

Invasive dermatophytosis mimicking vasculitis.

We report a case of invasive dermatophytosis mimicking vasculitis. A patient consulted the Department of Dermatology, Zealand University Hospital, Roskilde, Denmark for the assessment of violaceous/erythematous lesions thought to be vasculitis. She had prior to this been treated with the immunosuppressive drug teriflunomid. Due to the lesion's erythematous scaling boarder invasive dermatophytosis was suspected. By using direct microscopy a mycological diagnosis was confirmed. We underline the utility of direct microscopy in the diagnosis.