Vascular Psoriasis Area Severity Index: A dermoscopic standard technique for assessing severity psoriasis and therapeutic management

Clinical value of dermoscopy in psoriasis

BACKGROUND

Dermoscopy is a noninvasive technique that has attracted increasing attention in the field of inflammatory skin diseases (such as psoriasis) in recent years.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to provide an up-to-date overview of the role of dermoscopy in the diagnosis and extra-diagnosis of psoriasis.

METHODS

This study sought to review the published literature regarding use of dermoscopy in the evaluation of psoriasis.

RESULTS

The diagnostic value of dermoscopy in psoriasis vulgaris, nail psoriasis, and other types of psoriasis was summarized from the aspects of vascular pattern, scale pattern, and other features. Meanwhile, the application value of dermoscopy in the differential diagnosis, efficacy and severity assessment, prediction and monitoring of psoriasis was discussed.

CONCLUSION

Dermoscopy has good clinical value in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of psoriasis and shows great prospects for severity assessment and efficacy prediction monitoring.

Automated, computer-guided PASI measurements by digital image analysis versus conventional physicians' PASI calculations: study protocol for a comparative, single-centre, observational study

INTRODUCTION

Reliable and accurate assessment of severity in psoriasis is very important in order to meet indication criteria for initiation of systemic treatment or to evaluate treatment efficacy. The most acknowledged tool for measuring the extent of psoriatic skin changes is the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI). However, the calculation of PASI can be tedious and subjective and high intraobserver and interobserver variability is an important concern. Therefore, there is a great need for a standardised and objective method that guarantees a reproducible PASI calculation. Within this study we will investigate the precision and reproducibility of automated, computer-guided PASI measurements in comparison to trained physicians to address these limitations.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

Non-interventional analyses of PASI calculations by either physicians in a prospective versus retrospective setting or an automated computer-guided algorithm in 120 patients with plaque psoriasis. All retrospective PASI calculations by physicians or by the computer algorithm are based on total body digital images. The primary objective of this study is comparison of automated computer-guided PASI measurements by means of digital image analysis versus conventional, prospective or retrospective physicians' PASI assessments. Secondary endpoints include (1) the assessment of physicians' interobserver variance in PASI calculations, (2) the assessment of physicians' intraobserver variance in PASI assessments of the same patients' images after a time interval of at least 4 weeks, (3) the assessment of the deviation between physicians' prospective versus retrospective PASI calculations, and (4) the reproducibility of automated computer-guided PASI measurements by assessment of two sets of total body digital images of the same patients taken at one time point.

ETHICS

Ethical approval was provided by the Ethics Committee of the Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg (ethics approval number S-379/2016).

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER

DRKS00011818; Results.