Gilotrif and skin toxic effects, psoriasis and cancer top week's dermatology reads

Study results finding that Gilotrif treatment for non-small cell lung cancer was associated with skin toxic effects, was the most read-article of the past week on Healio.com/Dermatology.

Other widely read articles included findings that there was a small risk of cancer in patients with psoriasis, and the successful treatment of alopecia universalis with topical Jakafi:

Gilotrif associated with skin toxic effects in non-small cell lung cancer

Patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated with Gilotrif had increased dermatologic visits during the first 6 months of treatment, which was related to higher incidence of skin toxic effects, including paronychia, according to recently published study results.

Researchers recruited patients who had ever received Gilotrif (afatinib, Boehringer Ingelheim) for non-small cell lung cancer between Nov. 1, 2007, and April 30, 2013. Most of the patients had received Iressa (gefitinib, AstraZeneca) or Tarceva (erlotinib, Genentech and Astellas Oncology) before beginning treatment with afatinib. Read more

Slight risk of cancer associated with psoriasis

There was a small risk of cancer in patients with psoriasis, particularly nonmelanoma skin cancer, lymphoma and lung cancer, according to recently published study results.

Joel Gelfand

Joel Gelfand, MD, MSCE, and colleagues conducted a population-based cohort study of patients aged 18 to 89 years in the United Kingdom with no medical history of HIV, cancer, organ transplants or hereditary disease, including albinism and xeroderms pigmentosum, prior to the beginning of the study. Read more

Topical Jakafi successfully treats alopecia universalis

A patient in her late teens with alopecia universalis was successfully treated with topical Jakafi, with minimal adverse effects, according to study results recently published in JAMA Dermatology.

Brett A. King, MD, PhD, and colleagues studied the patient who presented with alopecia universalis. She had not received any treatment for 2 years and had previously been treated with prednisone, intralesional triamcinolone, sulfasalazine, topical squaric acid dibutylester and topical anthralin, which were ineffective. Read more

Full-facial volume restoration sustained over 18 months with hyaluronic acid filler

Full-facial volume restoration was sustained over 18 months in patients who received hyaluronic acid filler with lidocaine, according to recently published study results.

Researchers studied 60 patients (54 women; mean age, 53.5 years) between February 2012 and March 2013 at four centers in Brazil. Read more

Atopic disease associated with childhood anemia

Recent research in JAMA Pediatrics revealed an association between anemia and atopic diseases, such as asthma, eczema, hay fever and food allergies, in children and adolescents.

“Atopic disease was associated with increased odds of caregiver-reported anemia in the majority of years of the [US National Health Interview Survey] and in analyses of all 17 years of the [US National Health Interview Survey],” Jonathan I. Silverberg, MD, PhD, MPH, of the department of dermatology at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote. Read more