PUVA therapy for psoriasis: choosing a suitable régime

Three age- and sex-matched groups of 30 patients with chronic plaque psoriasis were treated by photochemotherapy (PUVA). Groups I and II received routine maintenance PUVA therapy at different intervals and Group III had no maintenance treatment. The remission time after the clearance treatment with PUVA is compared with the total cumulative dose of long wave ultraviolet light (UVA). A lower mean dose of UVA (51.0 +/- 1.7 joules/cm(2)) in Group III (no maintenance PUVA) achieved a comparable remission period to that after larger cumulative doses following routine maintenance therapy (87.8 +/- 4.9 and 77.0 +/- 4.1 joules/cm(2) in Groups I and II).