Efectividad de la terapia fotodinámica con ácido 5-aminolevulínico en el tratamiento de la hidrosadenitis supurativa. Serie de 5 casos

Laser-based and Light-based Therapies in Hidradenitis Suppurativa

This review provides insight into the different types of laser-based and energy-based therapies used in the treatment of hidradenitis suppurativa. It further explores the differences among some of the more commonly utilized laser modalities and the indications for their use (ie, scar treatment and hair follicle destruction).

Effects of the modified excision combined with bidirectional photodynamic therapy on refractory hidradenitis suppurativa: a retrospective study

To describe the clinical features of refractory hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) patients (Hurley stageII and stage III) and evaluate the efficacy of combined treatment of the modified excision with bidirectional photodynamic therapy (PDT). A retrospective, multicenter study was conducted in 35 refractory HS patients. They were treated with the modified excision combined with bidirectional PDT. The outcomes, patients' satisfaction, adverse effects, and the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) were observed. There were more males than females (6:1). The axilla was the most frequently affected region (37.5%). All patients had experienced treatment failures before and had good response to our combined therapy (clearance rate > 75%). The average time required for complete wound healing was 11 days. After 1 year of follow-up, no significant recurrence was observed. The DLQI decreased significantly after the combined treatment. The comprehensive evaluation of scar and the deformation showed good cosmetic results after treatment. Reversible adverse events such as small patchy blackness, necrosis, or ulcer in the tip of the flap occurred in six patients (17.1%). Of the 35 patients, 30 were very satisfied with the treatment. This case series finds that the modified excision combined with bidirectional PDT may hold promise for radical treatment of Hurley stage II and stage III.

A prospective study of the effect of fire micro-needling plus 5% topical ALA-PDT for the treatment of dissecting cellulitis of the scalp

BACKGROUND

Different therapies have been used for dissecting cellulitis of the scalp (DCS) with poor results. Topical 5-aminolaevulinic acid photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT) is effective for many inflammatory skin diseases.

OBJECTIVES

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of fire micro-needling plus 5% ALA-PDT on DCS.

METHODS

Forty-two male DCS patients were enrolled and treated by four sessions of fire micro-needling plus 5% ALA-PDT (occlusion time: 3 h, 100 mW/cm² for 20-32 min, 633 ± 10 nm LED) with an interval of 1-2 weeks. The reduction of lesions was evaluated at each follow-up visit. The patients` symptoms were evaluated by Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI). All of the side effects were recorded.

RESULTS

Forty-one DCS patients finished the treatments and the marked effective rate (MER) reached 65.85%. Ten patients (24.39%) were cured and 17 patients (41.46%) achieved excellent improvement. The median of lesion numbers decreased significantly from 25 to 7 (p < 0.001) with DLQI from 13 to 2 (p < 0.001). Although all the ten cured patients had a relapse during the 12-month follow-up, 5/10 patients had a remission of more than 6 months. All the patients tolerated PDT well with mild adverse effects.

CONCLUSIONS

Fire micro-needling plus 5% ALA-PDT is effective for Chinese male DCS patients without the need to take systemic drugs.

Ultrasound-guided photodynamic therapy with intralesional methylene blue and a 635 nm light-emitting diode lamp in hidradenitis suppurativa: A retrospective study of 41 patients

BACKGROUND

Photodynamic therapy for hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a therapeutic alternative with a good safety profile, but its effectiveness has yet to be demonstrated.

OBJECTIVES

To demonstrate the effectiveness of PDT with intralesional methylene blue in HS lesions.

METHODS

A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed. Forty-one patients were treated with intralesional methylene blue and a diode lamp. Follow-up was carried out at 1 and 6 months after therapy. Efficacy was determined by the diameter reduction of the lesion measured by high-frequency ultrasound.

RESULTS

A reduction of ≥75% in the maximum diameter was recorded in 58.5% of the lesions, while 22% showed a reduction between 50% and 75%, and 19.5% showed a reduction of <50%. Recurrence rate was 12.5%. The lesions treated in patients with typical forms of HS (Canoui-Poitrine phenotype I) had a better therapeutic response. No statistically significant differences were found in terms of lesion location or concomitant treatment.

CONCLUSION

This therapy may potentially be a cost-effective and well-tolerated local therapy for Hurley I-II patients with superficial abscesses and fistulas.

Medical and Surgical Management of Hidradenitis Suppurativa: A Review of International Treatment Guidelines and Implementation in General Dermatology Practice

BACKGROUND

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic painful skin disease that severely impairs patients' quality of life. While high-quality trials of HS therapies remain limited, medical knowledge of best treatment practices is rapidly evolving, leading to the recent publication of multiple international treatment guidelines for HS.

SUMMARY

This review compares international HS treatment guidelines, describes evidence for effectiveness of common and emerging HS therapies, and provides guidance for integrating evidence-based HS care into practice. Although over 50 medical and procedural treatments are mentioned across international HS guidelines, only adalimumab and infliximab have grade B/weak recommendation or higher across all major guidelines. This review describes the appropriate patient selection and effectiveness of the most commonly used medical and procedural treatments for HS. It also includes recommendations for counseling, dosing, and duration of medical therapies as well as procedure videos for the practicing dermatologist.

Laser and Light-Based Treatment Modalities for the Management of Hidradenitis Suppurativa

Hidradenitis suppurativa is a chronic inflammatory skin disease characterized by inflammatory nodules, abscesses, and sinus tracts in intertriginous areas that has a significant impact on patient quality of life. Treatments range from topical, intralesional, systemic, and surgical. Furthermore, laser and light-based treatment options have become increasingly popular because of the limitations of adverse effects associated with systemic therapy and decreased down-time associated with laser and light therapy. These modalities are thought to work through a variety of mechanisms including decreasing inflammation, destroying hair follicles, targeting sebaceous glands, killing bacteria, and debulking lesions through ablation. This review explores these laser and light-based treatment modalities for the treatment of hidradenitis suppurativa.

Quality of life measurement in hidradenitis suppurativa: position statement of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology task forces on Quality of Life and Patient-Oriented Outcomes and Acne, Rosacea and Hidradenitis Suppurativa

This paper is organized jointly by the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Task Force (TF) on Quality of Life (QoL) and Patient-Oriented Outcomes and the EADV TF on acne, rosacea and hidradenitis suppurativa (ARHS). The purpose of this paper was to present current knowledge about QoL assessment in HS, including data on HS-specific health-related (HR) QoL instruments and HRQoL changes in clinical trials, and to make practical recommendations concerning the assessment of QoL in people with HS. HS results in significant quimp that is higher than in most other chronic skin diseases. HS impact in published studies was assessed predominantly (84% of studies) by the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI). There is a lack of high-quality clinical trials in HS patients where HRQoL instruments have been used as outcome measures. One double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial on infliximab with low number of participants reported significantly better HRQoL improvement in the treatment group than in the placebo group. Well-designed clinical studies in HS patients to compare different treatment methods, including surgical methods and assessing long-term effects, are needed. Because of lack of sufficient validation, the Task Forces are not at present able to recommend existing HS-specific HRQoL instruments for use in clinical studies. The EADV TFs recommend the dermatology-specific DLQI questionnaire for use in HS patients. The EADV TFs encourage the further development, validation and use of other HS-specific, dermatology-specific and generic instruments but such use should be based on the principles presented in the previous publications of the EADV TF on QoL and Patient-Oriented Outcomes.

Nodular-cystic eruption in course of sorafenib administration for hepatocarcinoma: An unconventional skin reaction requiring unconventional treatment

Sorafenib is a multitargeted kinase inhibitor currently used in the treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). It is associated with a significant risk of skin toxicity, which nevertheless represents a clinical marker of good response to treatment. Hand-and-foot skin reaction, alopecia, mucositis, xerosis, skin discoloration, and nail involvement occur frequently in course of therapy. More rarely, sorafenib can target hair follicles. We report the case of a patient who developed painful inflamed nodular-cystic lesions in both pubic and axillary regions in course of treatment with sorafenib. Because of the limited therapeutic options, the patient underwent photodynamic therapy (PDT), a topical treatment which combines a photosensitizing drug applied on lesional skin and a source of light, and had no systemic side effects. At the end of the treatment period, the patient experienced progressive clinical improvement, with relief of the symptoms. PDT may be helpful to limit suffering in patients affected by recalcitrant skin toxicity of the pilosebaceous unit who are not candidates for, or not responsive to, standard therapies.

Non-surgical treatments for hidradenitis suppurativa: A systematic review

INTRODUCTION

The management of hidradenitis suppurativa is multidisciplinary, involving general measures, medical treatment and surgery. Non-surgical treatments, often first-line procedures, mainly concern forms of low-to-moderate severity or, conversely, very severe forms in non-operable patients or those refusing surgery. While many treatments have been attempted, few randomized controlled trials have been conducted, so the choice of treatments is most often based on the personal experience of the clinicians. The objective of this systematic review is to propose a synthetic analysis of the currently available non-surgical procedures.

METHODS

This systematic review of the literature was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA criteria. We searched for articles in the Medline^®, PubMed Central, Embase and Cochrane databases published between January 2005 and September 2015.

RESULTS

Sixty-four articles were included. They generally had a low level of evidence; indeed, the majority of them were retrospective observational studies. They involved biotherapy (44%), dynamic phototherapy (16%), antibiotics (11%), Laser (8%), retinoids (6%) and immunosuppressive therapies, anti-inflammatory drugs, zinc, metformin, gammaglobulins and fumarates.

CONCLUSIONS

None of the non-surgical treatments can treat all stages of the disease and offer long-term remission. Antibiotics and biotherapy seem to have real effectiveness but their effect remains suspensive and the disease is almost certain to reappear once they are stopped. As regards antibiotics, no association has shown their superiority in a study with a high level of evidence. And while some biotherapies seem quite effective, due to their side effects they should be reserved for moderate-to-severe, resistant or inoperable forms of the disease. Randomized controlled studies are needed before valid conclusions can be drawn. In the resistant or disabling forms, it is consequently advisable to orientate to the greatest possible extent towards radical surgery, which is the only treatment allowing hope for cure.

Photodynamic Therapy and Skin Appendage Disorders: A Review

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a noninvasive treatment that utilizes light treatment along with application of a photosensitizing agent. In dermatology, PDT is commonly used and approved for the treatment of oncological conditions such as actinic keratosis, Bowen disease and superficial basal cell carcinoma. In the last 2 decades however, PDT has also been used for the treatment of several nonneoplastic dermatological diseases. The present review summarizes published data on PDT application in skin appendage disorders. Our literature review shows that: (a) PDT may be a suitable treatment for acne, folliculitis decalvans, hidradenitis suppurativa, nail diseases, and sebaceous hyperplasia; (b) there is a lack of agreement on PDT features (type, concentrations and incubation period of used substances, number and frequency of PDT sessions, optimal parameters of light sources, and patient characteristics [e.g., failure to previous treatments, disease severity, body surface area involved, etc.] which should guide PDT use in these diseases);

Photodynamic therapy with intralesional methylene blue and a 635 nm light-emitting diode lamp in hidradenitis suppurativa: a retrospective follow-up study in 7 patients and a review of the literature

Hidradenitis suppurativa is a chronic inflammatory skin disease which has an estimated prevalence of 1%. It is characterized by the formation of recurrent painful suppurative nodules and abscesses in the flexural areas of the body. It is believed that its pathogenesis involves an aberrant, genetically-determined activation of innate immunity against the bacterial commensal flora of intertriginous areas. It has been found that the formation of antibiotic-resistant bacterial biofilms is a common finding in hidradenitis lesions. Photodynamic therapy with different compounds and light sources has demonstrated its efficacy in a number of infectious diseases such as nail mycosis and chronic periodontitis. We retrospectively report our experience in the treatment of hidradenitis with photodynamic therapy using intralesional methylene blue and a 635 nm light-emitting diode lamp in 7 patients. Two patients received one session whereas 5 patients received two sessions. At one month follow-up good response was achieved in 6 patients. After 6 months, 5 patients (71%) maintained remission of the disease in the treated area. In view of the results and literature review, we regard methylene blue as an ideal photosensitizer for photodynamic therapy in this disease.