Short-contact treatment with dithranol (anthralin) is a widely used treatment for chronic plaque psoriasis. Although effective, it causes staining and irritation, and is therefore inconvenient. Calcipotriol is a recently developed vitamin D analogue which is effective and easy to use. To evaluate the relative efficacy, safety and acceptability of these treatments a multicentre, open, randomized, parallel-group comparison was performed. Four hundred and seventy-eight patients with chronic plaque psoriasis were randomized to use one of the two treatments for 8 weeks. One group applied calcipotriol ointment (50 micrograms/g) twice daily. The other used a single application for 30 min each day of Dithrocream in the highest concentration tolerated. Severity of psoriasis was assessed by modified PASI score at baseline, and after 2, 4, and 8 weeks of treatment. A five-point scale was used by subjects and by investigators as an additional assessment of overall response, and a similar scale was used by subjects to grade acceptability. Total serum calcium was monitored at baseline and after 2 and 8 weeks on treatment. The mean PASI score fell from 9.1 to 4.7 after 8 weeks on dithranol (P < 0.001), and from 9.4 to 3.4 on calcipotriol (P < 0.001). The difference between the two treatments was significant in favour of calcipotriol at 2 weeks (P < 0.001), and remained so at subsequent assessments. At 8 weeks the difference between mean improvements in scores for the two groups was 1.6 (95% confidence interval 0.5-2.7). Efficacy grading by subjects and investigators, and acceptability grading by subjects, were all significantly better for calcipotriol.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

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SummaryThe data recorded in the National Registry of Hospitalized Patients in Denmark (Landspatient-registeret [LPR]) are based on reports from the somatic departments of hospitals throughout the country. For the purpose of evaluating the quality of these data, information from LPR concerning patient diagnoses was compared with corresponding information in the records from 924 consecutive admissions to the Frederiksborg County Hospital, Hiller0d. The diagnoses in these records were registered and given priority based on predetermined criteria for selection of primary and secondary diagnoses, respectively. For each hospitalized case a total of 4 primary and 4 secondary diagnoses might be registered. In order to show the variation in choice of diagnoses between physicians, all records from the two medical departments and 10% from the remaining departments were revised by two different physicians. In the medical “block” (medical departments B and F, and the departments of physical medicine, paediatrics, and neurology), there was agreement between the two physicians on at least one of the maximally 4 primary diagnoses which could be registered in 92% of the cases (2-digit code). For the surgical “block” (the departments of parenchymal surgery, orthopaedic surgery, gynaecology, and otology), the corresponding figure was 95%. If the two coders were in agreement on at least one primary diagnosis, this was identical with LPR’s primary diagnosis in 76% of the cases in the medical “block” and 85% of the cases in the surgical “block” (2-digit code). However, in the case of 15% of the medical and 7% of the surgical cases, the primary diagnosis, on which the two coders were in agreement, was not recorded at all by LPR (3-digit code).It is to be emphasized that a certain variation between different physicians in their choice of diagnoses cannot be eliminated. In conclusion, the level of agreement between LPR and the study material found in the present study is in general satisfactory if LPR’s function as a basis of information for policy making in the hospital sector is taken into consideration. On the other hand, agreement (especially on medical records) is presumably not good enough in LPR to be used for research purposes.

In 14 patients with coronary heart disease the effect of long-term treatment (mean 16 months, range 12-33) with alprenolol on platelet function and fibrinolytic activity was studied. While on the beta-blocker and two weeks after gradual withdrawal of it, the patients performed a bicycle-ergometer test and blood samples were obtained before and following exercise. Pre-exercise fibrinolytic activity, assessed by the euglobulin clot lysis time, was 183 +/- 27 min (mean +/- SEM) while on alprenolol as compared to 111 +/- 18 min (p less than 0.01) after its withdrawal. Activation of fibrinolysis following exercise was not significantly influenced by alprenolol. In patients treated with alprenolol, the pre-exercise threshold level of ADP, producing platelet aggregation was 3.3 muM (geometric mean) and 5.1 muM after stopping treatment (p less than or equal to 0.05). In patients receiving the beta-blocker, the ADP- threshold value dropped from 3.3 muM before exercise to 2.3 muM immediately after exercise (not significant). The corresponding values after withdrawal of alprenolol were 5.1 muM and 2.7 muM (p less than or equal to 0.02). Adrenaline - stimulated aggregation was not significantly influenced by alprenolol. Serotonin release from platelets following maximal ADP- and adrenaline stimuli was not significantly changed by exercise in patients on beta-blockade. After stopping treatment, ADP-induced serotonin release was 22 +/- 4.1% before and 15 +/- 4.7% after exercise (p less than 0.02). the corresponding values using the adrenaline stimulus were 29 +/- 5.7% and 17 +/- 4.7% (p less than 0.05). It is suggested that during physical stress alprenolol may protect platelets against aggregatory stimuli.