New method for determining prognosis of patients with psoriasis (E-PAP)

Abstract

We developed a new method for evaluating clinical symptoms of psoriasis during the observation period, by adding a parameter of time (the number of days) to the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI). This method was named the evaluation for prognosis with averaged PASI (E-PAP). Using this method, we assessed 14 cases to determine the following items: (1) clinical symptoms during the observation period; (2) clinical effects of treatments; (3) patient's satisfaction with treatments; and (4) necessity for additional and/or alternate treatments. We evaluated the usefulness of E-PAP in determining the prognosis of patients with psoriasis by comparing the uninterrupted monotherapy and intermittent therapy with cyclosporin A (Cys A). Although there were no differences in Cys A dosages after remission as well as adverse reactions between the two groups, the E-PAP value was significantly different between them. These results suggest that this method may be useful for determining the prognosis of patients with psoriasis.