DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2019.v07i08.020

Pages: 2725-2729

We conducted a clinical study in the Dept. of Dermatology, Pabna Medical College Hospital, Pabna, Bangladesh during the period from June 2016 to May 2017. Our study aim was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of prednisolone in the treatment pemphigus. One hundred (100) patients of pemphigus (pemphigus vulgaris and severe cases of pemphigus vegetans, pemphigus foliaceous and pemphigus erythematosus) were selected and divided into three (3) groups. Sixty (60) patients were treated with Prednisolone, twenty (20) with a combination of Prednisolone plus azathioprine and remaining twenty (20) patients with betamethasone-cyclophosphamide pulse (BC) therapy. All patients were followed from 10 to 24 months (mean 17 months). No significant difference between steroid and azathioprine-corticosteroid therapy groups in terms of time taken to achieve initial control of the disease but the frequency of relapses and the incidence of complications were higher in patients treated with corticosteroids alone. A marginally increased susceptibility to infections was seen in patients treated with BC therapy as compared with azathioprine-corticosteroid group. Sixty (60) percent patients treated with BC therapy required additional steroids in between treatment period. In the conclusion, we can say that, azathioprine-corticosteroid treatment of pemphigus was more effective and comparatively safer than steroid alone or BC therapy.