N. Mesinkovska, A. Téllez, D. Dawes
Feb 1, 2015
Citations
1
Influential Citations
49
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
Abstract
The use of oral pioglitazone in the treatment of lichen planopilaris To the Editor: Current therapies for primary cicatricial alopecia remain empirical and often ineffective. Recent experimental evidence has suggested a potential role of aberrant peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)functioning in the pathogenesis of cicatricial alopecias. On the basis of this finding, Mirmirani and Karnik successfully treated a patient with therapy-resistant lichen planopilaris (LPP) with a PPARagonist. The aim of this studywas to evaluate the efficacy of pioglitazone, a synthetic PPARligand, in the treatment of LPP. We performed a retrospective case analysis of the 22 patients who were prescribed pioglitazone hydrochloride for LPP in a tertiary hair research center from 2010 through 2012. Inclusion required therapy with pioglitazone for at least 1 month, and clinical follow-up longer than 3 months. Clinical grading, including subjective measures (pain, tenderness, pruritus), objective measures (perifollicular erythema, scale), and hair loss extent, were recorded at baseline and on subsequent visits. At each visit, a hair specialist physician assigned a score to each objective and subjective end-point grade, ranging from resolution (0), improvement (1), stable (2), to worsening (3) condition. Global response to treatment was graded by the investigators, based on clinical impression, supplemented with standardizedphotographic data. Clinical impression categories included: ‘‘complete remission,’’