BACKGROUND: The combination of oral methoxalen followed by UVA (PUVA) is an established therapy for psoriasis. Debate has focused on the risk of developing cutaneous carcinoma as a consequence of PUVA therapy. Successful results of studies of the response of psoriasis to UVB phototherapy have led to the development of the TL-01 fluorescent UVB lamp in which narrow-band UVB (311 +/- 2 nm) is emitted. Recently reports about safety and efficacy of narrow-band UVB comparison of wide-spectrum UVB and PUVA have increased. However there are few studies comparing the therapeutic effectiveness of PUVA and narrowband UVB. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare affectivity of PUVA with narrow-band UVB phototherapy in psoriasis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 32 patients with plaque-type psoriasis who were randomly allocated who were receiving thrice-weekly treatment with PUVA or narrow-band UVB. RESULTS: Clearance of psoriasis at the end of 20th course of therapy was achieved in the patients treated with PUVA (88.4%) and with narrow-band UVB (88.9%) without statistically significant difference. 70.9% of those treated with PUVA were clear of psoriasis 6 months after completing treatment compared to 48.5% of narrow-band UVB treated patients (p < 0.05). The remission rates 12 months after completing treatments were 53.0% for PUVA patients and 14.7% for narrow-band UVB cases (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: When given thrice weekly, both PUVA and narrow-band phototherapy are effective in clearing the lesions of plaque-type psoriasis, but affectivity of PUVA achieves a longer remission period compared with narrow-band UVB.

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