Publication:

Narrowband UVB versus psoralen – narrowband UVB in cases of chronic plaque type psoriasis: a matched pair study

Background Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease and various therapeutic options are available to treat the condition. The aim was to compare the efficacy of psoralen narrowband UV light (P-NBUVB) to conventional narrowband UVB light (NBUVB) in the treatment of psoriasis.

Methods A total of 17 cases were included in our study. NBUVB was given on one half of the body and P-NBUVB was given on the other half and the response in two characteristic lesions was compared.

Results The total lesional severity scale (TLSS) score of fourteen completed patients at the end of five sittings was 132 (mean- 9.42) for NBUVB and 127 (mean- 9.07) for P-NBUVB. The difference was not statistically significant. At the end of ten treatments the mean value was 5.76 for NBUVB and 4.92 for P-NBUVB.  There was statistical significance at this point. However by the end of our study, after fifteen treatments the mean value for NBUVB and P-NBUVB were 3.0 and 2.76 respectively which were statistically not significant.

Conclusions We conclude that P-NBUVB was as effective as NBUVB in clearing psoriasis and further studies with larger study population is required to prove the efficacy of this treatment modality.