Vitamin B-12 cream containing avocado oil in the therapy of plaque psoriasis

Background. There are already many effective topical therapies available fo r use in the treatment of chronic plaque psoriasis. Unfortunately, these tr eatments are often associated with a rather significant risk of undesirable effects. Objective and Methods: In this randomized, prospective clinical t rial, the effects of the vitamin D-3 analog calcipotriol were evaluated aga inst those of a recently developed vitamin B-12 cream containing avocado oi l in an intraindividual right/left-side comparison. The trial population co nsisted of 13 patients, 10 men and 3 women, with chronic plaque psoriasis. The observation period was 12 weeks; the effects of therapy were assessed o n the basis of a PASI score adapted to the right/left-side comparison techn ique, the subjective evaluations of the investigator and patients and the r esults of 20-MHz sonography. Results:There was a more rapid development of beneficial effects with the use of calcipotriol in the initial 8 weeks, alt hough differences in effects were significant only at the time point of the rapy week 8 (p<0.05). After 12 weeks, neither the PASI score nor 20-MHz son ography showed significant differences between the two treatments. While th e efficacy of the calcipotriol preparation reached a maximum in the first 4 weeks and then began to subside, the effects of the vitamin B-12 cream con taining avocado oil remained at a constant level over the whole observation period. This would indicate that the vitamin B-12 preparation containing a vocado oil may be suitable for use in long-term therapy, a hypothesis furth er supported by the fact that the investigator and the patients assessed th e tolerability of the vitamin B-12 cream containing avocado oil as signific antly better in comparison with that of calcipotriol. Conclusion: The resul ts of this clinical trial provide evidence that the recently developed vita min B-12 cream containing avocado oil has considerable potential as a well- tolerated, long-term topical therapy of psoriasis. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Ka rger AG, Basel.