The efficacy of 308nm laser treatment of psoriasis compared to historical controls.

UVB treatment with a 308nm excimer laser has shown promise in the treatment of localized psoriasis. There is no placebo or comparison treatment controlled trial studying efficacy of the laser, however. The purpose of this report is to compare the results of a study of 308nm laser treatment of psoriasis to published results of other psoriasis treatments. Data on the efficacy of 308nm laser treatment of psoriasis were obtained from a previously published case series, supplemented by reanalysis of the data to estimate the median time to success using Kaplan-Meier methods. These results were compared to those from other studies identified by a Medline search. Treatment success was measured by estimating the percentage of patients who achieve 75% improvement in the severity of psoriasis. Patients treated in the 308nm laser study had similar disease severity as those in topical treatment studies and less severe disease than those treated in studies using standard phototherapy or systemic therapy. A greater percentage of patients achieved 75% improvement with the UVB laser treatments than was reported for other forms of phototherapy or systemic therapy with acitretin or low dose cyclosporine, and did so more rapidly. The UVB laser study patients achieved the 75% improvement endpoint in an average of 46% fewer treatments than was observed in other phototherapy studies. Laser treatment and topical calcipotriene had similar efficacies, and both were more effective than topical tazarotene or topical fluocinonide. As compared to topical therapies, the time to achieve 75% improvement favored the UVB laser. 308nm laser treatments for psoriasis are clearly more effective than placebo and are comparable to or more effective than many other standard treatments for psoriasis.