Rishi Hassan

Abstract

Introduction : Psoriasis is a complex disease that requires carefully designed therapy in order to achieve sustained remission. The disease can be effectively controlled by various therapeutic options, used alone or in combination. Phototherapy may be combined with topical or systemic agents to achieve higher clearance rates, longer disease free intervals and a lower carcinogenic risk. The combination of NB-UVB with calcipotriol increases the therapeutic efficacy of phototherapy as well as UVB reduces the irritation caused by calcipotriol Objective : The chief purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of Narrow Band-UVB alone and in combination with topical calcipotriol in patients with psoriasis vulgaris. Materials and Methods: Patients with chronic plaque type psoriasis of 100 numbers involving less than 20% of body surface area were randomly allocated to any one of the following 2 groups. Group A- Narrow Band UVB phototherapy. & Group B- Narrow Band UVB with topical calcipotriol ointment Results : In group A (NB-UVB), the mean baseline PASI score was 12.1 and the mean PASI score at the end of 12 weeks was 2.54. There was 79% reduction in PASI score at the end of 12 weeks. 31 patients showed good response and 13 patients showed more than 70% clearance. When NB-UVB group was compared with NB-UVB and calcipotriol combination group, there was a significant difference (p Limitations : Further studies with additional numbers of patients are essential to compare the efficacy and safety of Narrow Band-UVB alone as well as in combination with topical calcipotriol in patients with psoriasis vulgaris. Keywords: Psoriasis, Psoriasis Area and Severity Index, Calcipotriol, Phototherapy.

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Abstract

Introduction: Chronic urticaria is a distressing cutaneous allergic condition with diverse clinical presentations which can affect the physical and psychological aspects of both adult and paediatric group of patients. Food allergens are considered to be one of the common aetiology in adult chronic urticaria patients. The best way to prevent it is by taking specific measures to avoid or reduce the consumption of offending food allergens that causes signs and symptoms, suspected food allergies should be evaluated clinically, diagnosed with skin prick test as well as blood test and treated by a qualified medical professional. Materials and Methods: This is a cross –sectional study conducted in 100 adult chronic urticaria patients visiting the out-patient department of dermatology, Azeezia medical college, Kollam from a period of December 2017 to December 2018. This study was conducted to know the prevalence of food allergens in chronic urticarial patients with the help of skin prick test with 32 food antigens. Results: Almost 99% of patients with chronic urticaria had some sorts of food allergy. Major offending food allergens were Haldi (16.2%), cashew nut (14.1%), mustard (12.1%), saunf (12.1%), milk and chicken (11.1%), garlic, ginger, gram, apple and fish (9.1%), banana and coffee (8.1%). Conclusion: Food allergy is one of the common cause for cutaneous distressing diseases like chronic Urticaria, which can impair the mental and physical well-being of patients. Specific diagnosis, evaluation and treatment of the above mentioned condition can improve the general aspects of urticarial patients. Main offending food allergens were Haldi (16.2%), cashew nut (14.1%), mustard (12.1%), saunf (12.1%), milk and chicken (11.1%), garlic, ginger, gram, apple and fish (9.1%), banana and coffee (8.1%). Skin prick test is one of the cheapest and fairly effective tool in the diagnosis of Chronic Idiopathic urticaria. Keywords: Food allergy, Chronic urticaria (CU), Allergy testing, IgE, Skin prick testing (SPT).

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