Ultraviolet Therapy of Atopic Eczema

Recent results from a pilot study have suggested that irradiation of patients with high doses of ultraviolet A1 radiation (UVA-1; 340–400 nm) may be effectively used as a monotherapy in the management of severe exacerbation of atopic dermatitis [1]. This assumption has recently been confirmed in a multicenter trial [2]. Accordingly, in this three-branched, randomized trial, atopic dermatitis patients were treated either with high-dose UVAi (10 days, 130 J/cm2/day; n = 20), or topically with fluocortolon (10 days, 1X daily; n = 17), or with conventional UVA-UVB therapy (10 days, 1 x daily, minimal effective dose-dependent; n = 16). By employing an established clinical scoring system, significant differences in favor of high-dose UVAi as well as fluocortolon therapy were observed (p<0.0001), as compared to UVA-UVB therapy. After 10 days, high-dose UVAi was found to be superior to fluocortolon (peosinophilic cationic protein as well as of the blood eosinophil count was observed in patients undergoing high-dose UVA1 irradiation or fluocortolon treatment, but not UVA-UVB theraphy. These studies confirm the therapeutic effectiveness of high-dose UVA1 irradiation in the management of patients with atopic dermatis.