LONG-TERM FOLLOW-UP OF ECZEMA PATIENTS TREATED WITH CYCLOSPORINE

Cyclosporine is efficacious in short-term treatment of various eczemat ous disorders. In a follow-up study we have evaluated the long-term ef ficacy of cyclosporine in 75 patients, who in previous studies had bee n treated with cyclosporine for chronic actinic dermatitis (6 patients ), atopic dermatitis (42 patients) and chronic hand eczema (27 patient s), 4, 2 and 1 year after the initial treatment, respectively. Three o ut of 6 patients with chronic actinic dermatitis showed long-term effi cacy. Two years after the initial treatment with cyclosporine (5 mg/kg /day for 1-2 treatment periods of 6 weeks) for atopic dermatitis the m ean disease activity was significantly lower compared to baseline (58% decrease), and compared to the time of treatment stop no significant change had occurred. Of 37 evaluable patients 35 were still in remissi on. One year after the initial treatment with cyclosporine (3 mg/kg/da y for 6 weeks) for chronic hand eczema the mean disease activity was s ignificantly lower than at baseline (54% decrease), and compared to th e time of treatment stop no significant change had occurred. Of 27 eva luable patients 21 patients were still in remission. The study suggest s that long-term remissions are possible in eczematous disease treated with cyclosporine, even for a relatively short treatment period. It m ust be stressed, however, that we did not have control groups for any of the studied patient groups.