A comparison of oral methylprednisolone plus azathioprine or mycophenolate mofetil for the treatment of bullous pemphigoid.

Objective: To investigate the safety and efficacy of oral methylprednisolone combined with azathioprine sodium or mycophenolate mofetil for the treatment of bullous pemphigoid.

Design: A prospective, multicenter, randomized, nonblinded clinical trial to compare 2 parallel groups of patients with bullous pemphigoid undergoing different treatments.

Setting: Thirteen departments of dermatology in Germany.

Radiation-induced late effects in two affected individuals of the Lilo radiation accident.

Radiation exposure leads to a risk for long-term deterministic and stochastic late effects. Two individuals exposed to protracted photon radiation in the radiological accident at the Lilo Military site in Georgia in 1997 received follow-up treatment and resection of several chronic radiation ulcers in the Bundeswehr Hospital Ulm, Germany, in 2003. Multi-parameter analysis revealed that spermatogenetic arrest and serum hormone levels in both patients had recovered compared to the status in 1997.

A comparison of oral methylprednisolone plus azathioprine or mycophenolate mofetil for the treatment of pemphigus.

Objective: To investigate the safety and efficacy of oral methylprednisolone combined with azathioprine sodium or mycophenolate mofetil for the treatment of pemphigus.

Design: A prospective, multicenter, randomized, nonblinded clinical trial to compare 2 parallel groups of patients with pemphigus (pemphigus vulgaris and pemphigus foliaceus) treated with oral methylprednisolone plus azathioprine or oral methylprednisolone plus mycophenolate mofetil. Settings Thirteen departments of dermatology in Germany.

PUVA-gel vs. PUVA-bath therapy for severe recalcitrant palmoplantar dermatoses. A randomized, single-blinded prospective study.

Background/purpose: In order to avoid unwanted effects of systemic psoralen and ultraviolet A (PUVA) therapy, various topical PUVA treatment modalities have been developed and are being increasingly used. However, up to now very few controlled studies comparing the therapeutic efficacy of different topical photochemotherapy modalities are available. Thus, the aim of our study was to compare the clinical efficacy of conventional PUVA-bath therapy to topical PUVA-gel therapy in patients with recalcitrant dermatoses of the palms and soles.

Can the immersion time of PUVA bath therapy be shortened?

Up to now, there are only a few data available concerning the influence of bathing time on skin phototoxicity. We compared the erythemal responses of normal skin to bath PUVA with 8-methoxypsoralen (8-MOP) after 5, 10 and 20 min immersion time. Currently, 20 min is the routinely performed immersion time in many European countries, including Germany, while in other countries bathing times are shorter.