engleski

Phototherapy in pediatric patients

The treatment of children with psoriasis, parapsoriasis, atopic dermatitis (AD), pitiryasis lichenoides, and scleroderma poses a therapeutic problem because all therapeutic options are associated with numerous side effects. Therefore, ultraviolet A and B (UVA nad UVB) phototherapy is presented as a possible alternative to some of these therapies, primarily to the use of topical and systemic corticosteroids, in children. Our results in treating children with phototherapy and PUVA-bath photochemotherapy over the last five years are reported. UVB therapy (TL01) was used in 20 psoriatic children (6 boys, 14 girls ; ages 6-14 years) during the stage of disease exacerbation and in 9 children (3 boys, 6 girls ; ages 8-16 years) with pityriasis lichenoides. Combined UVA/UVB phototherapy was applied in 21 AD children (17 boys, 14 girls ; ages 4-15 years). Photochemotherapy with local application of a PUVA bath was used in six children (2 boys, 4 girls ; ages 9-16 years) with circumscribed scleroderma and in one girl with systemic scleroderma. All children received short courses of phototherapy with either no maintenance or short maintenance . All three therapeutic protocols resulted in a certain degree of improvement in most of the study patients. None of the patients exhibited any early phototherapy side effects. We conclude that phototherapy and PUVA bath are valuable and safe therapeutic options for selected children who do not respond to other treatments.

phototherapy; photochemotherapy children; psoriasis; atopic dermatitis pityriasis lichenoides

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