RESEARCH ROUND-UP |
research round-up
TREATMENT OF ACNE SCARRING WITH FRACTIONAL CO2
LASERS
Qian H, Lu Z, Ding H, Yan S, Xiang L, Gold MH. J Cosmet Laser Ther 2012; 14(4): 162–5
therapy is based on the theory of fractional photothermolysis.
F RACTIONAL ABLATIVE CO2 LASER It can be
effective in treating acne scars in a less invasive fashion than conventional ablative CO2
study, the safety and efficacy of a novel CO2 fractional ablative laser was investigated for
the treatment of facial atrophic acne scarring in Chinese individuals. Materials and methods: A total of 31 patients (11 females, 20 males,
Fitzpatrick skin phototypes III–IV)
with facial acne scarring received three sequential fractional treatments over a 6-month period. Outcome measurements included blinded evaluations of before and after photographs by two physicians at 3 and 12 months after the final treatment. Global improvement was noted as well as any untoward events. Results: At the 12 months follow-up time period, 12.9% of the patients showed excellent improvement in their acne scars, while 38.71% noted good to fair results. The clinical response at the 12-month follow-up visit tended to be better than at the 3-month follow-up visit, but was not statistically significant. Four patients experienced post-treatment and transient PIH but three patients were noted to have prolonged erythema. There was no evidence hypopigmentation or worsening of the scarring in any of the study patients. Conclusion: This high-energy pulsed and cool-scanned fractional ablative CO2
laser
system is safe and effective for facial atrophic acne scarring. Improvement in scarring was
48 ❚ laser therapy. Objective: In this clinical
AN EVIDENCE-BASED REVIEW OF SKIN CANCER RATES ON BIOLOGIC THERAPIES
Kamangar F, Neuhaus IM, Koo JYM. J Dermatological Treatment 2012; 23(4): 305–15
cancer in patients on a biologic therapy, in order to discern whether this therapy is associated with any increase risk of skin cancer. Data Sources: Review of MEDLINE database and the Cochrane library database was conducted, to identify randomized controlled trials and meta- analyses that evaluated the safety of biologic therapies, and specifically reported rates of skin cancer in patients on biologic therapies. Study Selection and Data Extraction: Two reviewers independently evaluated eligibility and collected the data. Studies selected were large randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses with large number of patient populations from clinical trials and post-marketing surveillance data that reported specifically the rate of skin cancer while on a biologic therapy. Data Synthesis: Nine studies met the eligibility criteria. All studies were of high quality with
T Strength of
Recommendation Taxonomy (SORT) (J Am Board Fam Pract 2004) evidence level of 1. Eight of these trials demonstrated an increased risk of non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) while on a biologic therapy.
September 2012 |
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O CRITICALLY REVIEW THE BODY OF clinical trials that report the rates of skin
noted in the majority of patients with minimal discomfort and minimal downtime. Continued improvement over time is also an important clinical finding.
A round-up of the most recently published academic articles and research
In addition, studies suggested a possible increased risk in patients with history of prior treatments known to also increase risk of skin cancer. Case studies with SORT evidence level 3 are also included in this review for completion; however, these data were not used in the formation of final recommendations. Conclusion: Biologic medications are highly efficacious and have a relatively good safety profile; however, high-quality evidence suggests that use of biologic therapies may be associated with an increased risk of detection of NMSC. Psoriatic patients may be at an increased risk due to history of treatment with other therapies also known to increase the risk of skin cancer. As such, it may be important to consider biologic therapies as an additional risk factor for development of NMSC and implement regular skin examinations for patients on these therapies.
PLASMA TESTOSTERONE IS ASSOCIATED WITH FRAMINGHAM RISK SCORE
Chock B, Lin TC, Li CS, Swislocki A. Aging Male 2012; 15(3): 134–9
developing cardiovascular disease. Many risk factors included in its calculation influence or are influenced by circulating testosterone. To investigate the possible association between testosterone and cardiovascular risk, as defined by the Framingham score, a Veterans Affairs (VA) database was analyzed. Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed. Inclusion criteria were male sex and age
T HE FRAMINGHAM RISK SCORE predicts a patientÕs 10-year risk of
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