Acta dermato-venereologica. Supplementum
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Acta Derm Venereol Suppl (Stockh) · Jan 1991
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialItch and atopic dermatitis: clinical and experimental studies.
The aims of the study were to develop and evaluate methods for quantitative measurement of itch, to investigate the perception of itch in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD), and to measure itch in such patients during treatment with H1-receptor antagonists or cyclosporin A, thereby exploring possible mechanisms in the pathogenesis of itch in AD. In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over study of 30 AD patients using a potent, topical, antipruritic corticosteroid, two methods for measuring itch both successfully detected the itch-relieving effect of the corticosteroid. The two methods comprised new portable data-loggers (Pain-Track) for continuous recording of itch, and conventional visual analogue scale (VAS) forms for retrospective recording. ⋯ In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over study of 25 AD patients, the effect on clinical itch of a sedative (clemastine) and of a non-sedative (terfenadine) antihistamine did not differ from that of placebo, although both drugs had a pronounced H1-receptor-antagonizing effect in the skin and clemastine was significantly sedative. These findings support the view that histamine is not the major pruritogen in AD, and that sedation is not necessarily associated with itch relief. In a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, cross-over study of 10 AD patients, 10 days' treatment with cyclosporin A (CSA), 5 mg/kg/day, significantly reduced itch intensity, eczema score and the number of peripheral blood eosinophils.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)