Exploring the use of weekly pulsed steroids for the treatment of dermatologic diseases

摘要

We read the article by El-Darouti et al. (1) with great interest. There are very few studies that address the optimal delivery of corticosteroids for the systemic treatment of skin and rheumatologic disease. We applaud the efforts of the group to objectively compare the adverse events seen between daily cortico-steroid use and weekly pulsed steroid treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus, and pemphigus vulgaris. They addressed the well-known precipitation of diabetes and decrease in bone density in patients on steroid treatment, and assessed their HPA axis suppression as well.