The impact of the frequency of short contact dithranol treatment

Dithranol short contact treatment is usually applied once a day. For some p atients this does not fit their possibilities or needs. Therefore we invest igated the efficacy of two other treatment strategies in two small groups o f patients, In the attempt to shorten the treatment time, one group of pati ents was treated twice daily, In order to not withhold short contact dithra nol treatment from patients who are unable to perform the treatment daily o r at home, a thrice-weekly treatment regimen was studied. 8 patients were treated twice daily and all achieved at least a 90% reducti on of the area of involved skin (clearance) within 12.3 (+/- 1.6) weeks. In the thrice weekly group six out of eight patients achieved a clearance of their psoriasis within 13.1 (+/- 4.2) weeks. The aim of shortening the trea tment period was not achieved by twice daily treatment in a day-care centre , However, the thrice-weekly treatment regimen certainly appeared to be an effective one, Further studies are needed on larger populations of patients to find out the optimal regimen for intermittent dithranol short contact t reatment.