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Study aim
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Assessing the therapeutic effect of pioglitazone and clobetasol and their side effects in patients with lichen planoplaris
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Design
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phase three, two-arm parallel-group, single-blind randomized control trial. randomization was done using the Block randomization method.
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Settings and conduct
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The study is conducted in the dermatology clinic of Razi Hospital, Tehran. Enrolled patients are randomly assigned to the intervention or control group using the block randomization method. The patients will be assessed before starting the intervention and in the second, fourth, and sixth months. A dermatologist blinded to the study objectives visits the patients and evaluates the disease's severity using the lichen planopilaris activity index. A blinded statistician unaware of patients allocation will analyze the data.
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Participants/Inclusion and exclusion criteria
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Inclusion criteria: age 15 to 70 years, Written informed consent, no contraindications for pioglitazone (heart failure, COPD, kidney problem, liver problem, diabetes, allergy to pioglitazone ), no pregnancy, and no recent use of OCP, Localized disease ( the patient is not a candidate for systemic or immunosuppressive drugs), a new case with no previous history of drug use, or a known case with flare-up in whom the drug has not been started in the past three months.
Exclusion Criteria: Unwillingness to participate, pioglitazone contraindications, pregnancy or OCP use, progressive multifocal disease ( candidate for systemic or immunosuppressive treatment), a known case of LPP and a history of drug use in the past three months, taking drugs interacting with pioglitazone.
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Intervention groups
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The intervention and the control group received Pioglitazone 15 mg tablets daily and Clobetazole lotion 0.05 every night during the experiment, respectively.
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Main outcome variables
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the severity of lichen planopilaris based on lichen palonopilaris activity index