Bruce Strober, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor, Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology,
New York University School of Medicine; Associate Director, Dermatopharmacology Unit, New York University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

Introduction

Psoriasis is a chronic, immune-mediated disease characterized by recurring and remitting inflammatory disease, ranging from mild to severe and affecting the skin, the scalp, and sometimes the joints. Although rarely life-threatening, psoriasis is associated with significant morbidity and is considered by many to be an emotionally crippling disease.¹ Treatment goals include rapidly controlling the disease process, achieving and maintaining remission, minimizing adverse events associated with therapies, and improving quality of life. Patients with mild-to-moderate psoriasis can generally be managed with topical therapies, including emollients, keratolytics, anthralin, coal tar, corticosteroids, vitamin D analogs, and topical retinoids. For patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis or for those with significant psoriatic arthritis, systemic therapies are dramatically changing outcomes. These treatments include phototherapy, traditional systemic medications (eg, acitretin, methotrexate, and cyclosporine), disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs for patients with psoriatic arthritis, and immunomodulatory biologic agents which control the inflammatory response that underlies psoriasis.

The 21^st World Congress of Dermatology was held September 30 – October 5, 2007, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. There were many interesting presentations providing new information about the efficacy and safety of treatment options, both approved and investigational, for psoriasis. The following summarizes this author’s assessment of the most important data related to treatment of psoriasis presented during several scientific sessions and poster presentations at this important meeting.