Topical diclofenac in hyaluronan gel for the treatment of solar keratoses

✍ Scribed by Kurt Gebauer; Pam Brown; George Varigos

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2003
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 107 KB
• Volume: 44
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0004-8380
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1440-0960.2002.00635.x

✦ Synopsis

SUMMARY

This randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled study assessed the efficacy and safety of a topical gel containing 3% diclofenac in 2.5% hyaluronan in 150 patients with solar keratoses (SK). The active treatment was compared with the vehicle only, hyaluronan gel, as placebo over a 12‐week period. Patients in both groups applied the active treatment or placebo to a targeted area of skin (0.25 g b.d.). At 12 weeks the mean lesion‐count reduction in the targeted area was not significantly different between treatments. However, at post‐termination follow up (16 weeks), there was a highly significant decrease in the number of lesions, 6.2 ± 7.5 standard deviations (SD) (56.1% reduction) in the active treatment group compared with 2.4 ± 4.3 SD (23.6% reduction) in the placebo group (P < 0.001). Other efficacy measures (complete lesion resolution, >50% lesion reduction) were also significantly different (P < 0.01) between treatments at 16 weeks. In conclusion, topical 3% diclofenac in 2.5% hyaluronan gel was effective and well tolerated in this study, suggesting a role for this therapy in the treatment of SK.