Treatment of psoriasis by oral PUVA therapy combined with aromatic retinoid (Ro 10-9359; Tigason).

The authors discuss results observed in 126 patients affected with severe psoriasis covering more than 40% of the whole body area, some of them representing failures of oral photochemotherapy (PUVA). They were treated according to 5 different schedules, 3 of them combining aromatic retinoid Ro 10-9359 (AR) with PUVA therapy. The most effective results were obtained with a schedule entailing initial treatment for a 2-week period with AR only, followed on the 15th day by the adjunction of classic PUVA therapy with progressive daily decrease of AR dosage (schedule C). It was possible to reduce the frequency and duration of PUVA treatments and the amount of energy used although to a lesser degree than described by other authors. Even more important, far longer remissions were obtained than with PUVA therapy alone, even where the ratio of clearing was identical. This combination therapy made it possible to recover over 70% of the complete or relative failures of PUVA monotherapy. Thus the combination of AR + PUVA therapy (RE-PUVA) as in this schedule appears to be the most important improvement ot PUVA since its introduction as a therapy for psoriasis.