New Strategies in the Management of Inflammatory Skin Diseases

A supplement to Skin & Allergy News supported by an unrestricted educational grant from Novartis.
Highlights of presentations made at the 27th Annual Hawaii Dermatology Seminar.

•CME Recognition
•Contents
•Target Audience
•Educational Needs
•Learning Objectives

To view the supplement, click the image above. To take the CME test, download and print out the PDF file, and follow the test instructions on page 16.

CME Recognition

Skin & Allergy News certifies that this educational activity has been recognized for 1 hour of AAD Category 1 CME credit and may be used toward the American Academy of Dermatology's Continuing Medical Education Award.
Term of approval: May 2003–April 2004.

This program was developed in accordance with the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education guidelines.

Contents

Clinical Presentation and Pathophysiology of Atopic Dermatitis
Lawrence F. Eichenfield, MD
Chief, Pediatric and Adolescent Dermatology
Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine (Dermatology)
Children's Hospital, San Diego
University of California, San Diego School of Medicine
Clinical Grants: Fujisawa and Novartis. Consultant: Fujisawa and Novartis.

Practical Treatments for Atopic Dermatitis
Michael D. Tharp, MD
The Clark W. Finnerud, MD, Professor and Chair
Department of Dermatology
Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center
Chicago
Clinical Grants: Biogen, Novartis, Aventis and Fujisawa. Consultant: Biogen, Novartis and 3M Pharmaceuticals. He discusses the investigational use of leukotrine inhibitors for treating atopic dermatitis.

Corticosteroid-Free Topical Therapy in the Management of Atopic Dermatitis
Donald V. Belsito, MD
Professor and Chair
Division of Dermatology
University of Kansas Medical Center
Kansas City
Clinical Grants: Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Fujisawa Healthcare. Consultant: Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Fujisawa Healthcare.

Potential Oral Treatment of Psoriasis and Atopic Dermatitis
Alice B. Gottlieb, MD, PhD
W.H. Conzen Chair in Clinical Pharmacology
Professor of Medicine
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
New Brunswick
Clinical Grants: Amgen, Inc., Biogen, Centocor, Inc., Cellgate, Inc., Genentech, Inc., Quatrx Pharmaceuticals, Novartis and Berlex Laboratories, Inc. Consultant: Amgen, Centocor, Genentech, Biogen, Cellgate, Celgene, Quatrx, and Biersdorf. Financial Interest: Telik. Discusses the investigational use of oral pimecrolimus for treating psoriasis and atopic dermatitis.

Target Audience

This activity has been developed for dermatologists and other health care professionals involved in the treatment of atopic dermatitis and related inflammatory skin diseases in adult and pediatric populations.

Educational Needs

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with significant costs and morbidity to patients and their families. Prevalence has been increasing in recent decades, and atopic dermatitis is now estimated to affect more than 10% of children. Atopic dermatitis frequently predates development of asthma and allergic rhinitis in later childhood, and health professionals should be aware of the characteristics that these conditions share. Physicians need to be able to distinguish atopic dermatitis from other eczematous skin conditions, especially in light of the fact that the disease is a contraindication for smallpox vaccination. Because traditional treatment regimens for atopic dermatitis that center on topical corticosteroids have limitations, dermatologists need to keep abreast of evolving alternative therapies such as the new macrolide immunosuppressants tacrolimus and pimecrolimus. These steroid-free products represent a new approach to treating this complex and difficult disease. Health professionals need to understand the mechanisms of action of these novel agents and be cognizant of the findings of recent clinical studies involving topical and oral formulations of the drugs to treat atopic dermatitis and another inflammatory skin disease, psoriasis.

Learning Objectives

By reading and studying this supplement, participants should be able to:

• Summarize revised diagnostic criteria for atopic dermatitis and how these diagnostic guidelines differ from the classic Hanifin-Rajka criteria.

• List several epidemiologic parallels between atopic dermatitis and asthma that have been highlighted in the scientific literature.

• Explain how atopic dermatitis treatment guidelines might be modeled after the three-tiered approach used for asthma care.

• List the chief components of traditional atopic dermatitis therapy and the benefits and limitations of each type of therapy.

• Summarize the findings of short- and long-term, double-blind, controlled clinical studies of topical pimecrolimus in pediatric and adult populations.

• Discuss the findings of recent studies using oral pimecrolimus to treat psoriasis and atopic dermatitis.

Copyright © 2003 by International Medical News Group

---