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Conventional adjuvant treatments do not consistently permit steroid therapy to be discontinued in patients with chronic pemphigus vulgaris (PV).^1-2 Methotrexate therapy, which was reported to be effective,^3-4 has been largely abandoned because of concerns about toxic effects.^1-2 This might have resulted from the high dosages (up to 150 mg/wk) of methotrexate used together with high dosages of steroids. We describe the efficacy of low dosages of methotrexate in patients taking low to moderate dosages of steroids.

Nine patients with active chronic PV (8 men, 1 woman; mean age, 59 years) were treated continuously with low to moderate dosages of prednisone for an average of 27 months (range, 6-53 months). In these patients, steroid therapy could not be tapered without a flare-up in disease activity; the patients had no contraindication to methotrexate and were treated with 2.5 mg every 12 hoursx3 doses each week added to their current dosage . . . [Full Text of this Article]

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Corticosteroid-Sparing Effect of Intravenous Immunoglobulin Therapy in Patients With Pemphigus Vulgaris
Sami et al.
Arch Dermatol 2002;138:1158-1162.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Treatment of Bullous Pemphigoid by Low-Dose Methotrexate Associated With Short-term Potent Topical Steroids: An Open Prospective Study of 18 Cases
Dereure et al.
Arch Dermatol 2002;138:1255-1256.
FULL TEXT