Clinical Trial: Excimer Light for Alopecia Areata

Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Recruiting
Study Type: Interventional

Official Title: Efficacy and Safety of UVB Excimer Light in Alopecia Areata: A Prospective, Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial

Brief Summary: Alopecia Areata (AA) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease causing nonscarring hair loss. Many treatment modalities have been found to be helpful in AA, however, none on them cure the disease. UVB excimer light has recently emerged as a new therapeutic modality in many dermatologic diseases. There are no prospective randomized controlled trials evaluating the efficacy and safety of UVB excimer light in AA. We plan on conducting a prospective split lesion single-blinded randomized clinical trial to assess efficacy and safety of UVB excimer light in the treatment of AA.

Detailed Summary:

Alopecia Areata (AA) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease causing nonscarring hair loss. Many treatment modalities have been found to be helpful in AA, however, none on them cure the disease.

Excimer laser has been shown to be effective in the treatment of AA in controlled studies. The main disadvantage of the previous studies evaluating excimer laser is choosing separate patches as a control which does not account for interlesional treatment response variability. UVB excimer light has recently emerged as a new therapeutic modality in many dermatologic diseases. However, there are only a few studies that evaluated the efficacy and safety of UVB excimer light in AA. Those studies have shown that UVB excimer light is effective in the treatment of AA but none of them was conducted in a controlled fashion.

There are no prospective randomized controlled trials evaluating the efficacy and safety of UVB excimer light in AA. We plan on conducting a prospective split lesion single-blinded randomized clinical trial to assess efficacy and safety of UVB excimer light in the treatment of AA.

Study Objectives

  1. To evaluate the potential for UVB excimer light to induce hair regrowth within AA patches.
  2. To assess the side effect profile of UVB excimer light when used in the treatment of AA.

Sponsor: University of British Columbia

Current Primary Outcome: Change in the percentage of hair regrowth for each half. We will consider the treamtment successful if there was ≥50% hair regrowth from baseline. [ Time Frame: at 6, 12, and 16 weeks from baseline ]

Original Primary Outcome: Same as current

Current Secondary Outcome:

  • Change in hair count and caliber in each half [ Time Frame: at 6, 12, and 16 weeks from baseline ]
  • Assessment of side effects in each half [ Time Frame: at 6, 12, and 16 weeks from baseline ]


Original Secondary Outcome: Same as current

Information By: University of British Columbia

Dates:
Date Received: February 20, 2013
Date Started: February 2013
Date Completion:
Last Updated: June 30, 2015
Last Verified: June 2015