Importance: UV phototherapy remains a useful and frequently employed treatment for chronic plaque psoriasis. In those patients with plaque body surface area less than 10%, targeted treatment is the safest and most effective modality.
Objective: We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the Levia® localized NB-UVB phototherapy machine in the treatment of patients with symmetrical psoriatic lesions.
Design: We performed a prospective, double-blinded, sham-treatment controlled study of this device beginning March 2012 through April 2014.
Setting: a comprehensive dermatology clinic in the northeastern United States.
Participants: 21 subjects with chronic plaque psoriasis.
Interventions: Each patient had one lesion randomized to receive the Levia treatment and one lesion (the control) treated with visible light. Treatment was administered three times a week for twelve weeks. Target lesion score (TLS), a rating of 0-4 each of erythema, scaling, and thickness, was measured biweekly by a blinded assessor, and visual analogue scale of pruritus was recorded by subjects.
Main outcomes and measures: The primary outcome, formulated prior to study initiation, was the percentage of lesions achieving clear or almost clear TLS after 12 weeks of treatment. Secondary endpoints included changes in target lesion pruritus VAS, percentage improvement in TLS, and the percentage of subjects achieving 50% improvement in TLS (TLS-50).
Results: The primary endpoint, TLS of three or less, was not achieved (P=0.118), but the secondary endpoints of percentage improvement in TLS (P=0.043) and TLS-50 (P=0.0195) were significantly superior in treated compared to sham-treated lesions. Percentage improvement in pruritus VAS was not significant (P=0.0565).
Conclusions and relevance: This device was found to be efficacious, though not necessarily to the point of clearance, in the treatment of psoriasis over a 12-week period.
Trial registration: www.clinicaltrials.gov, identifier: NCT02107482, http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT02107482