Topical clobetasol is effective for the treatment of Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN), a rare systemic allergic drug eruption.
- The efficacy and safety of TC is evaluated in 15 patients with TEN.
- The patients were advised to apply TC once-daily for 14 days.
- On day 3 of therapy, a biopsy was taken from the treated area for genetic studies.
- The primary study established the safety of topical clobetasol treatment and determined the time to cessation of skin detachment for the control and clobetasol-treated areas.
- Secondary endpoints evaluated the efficacy using parameters such as time to 90% re-epithelialization and percentage of affected skin at 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 days.
- Genomic DNA and RNA obtained from biopsy samples characterized the TEN transcriptome and identified the changes in gene expression after topical steroid treatment.
- Topical steroids have shown promising results in reducing ocular disease duration, severity, and long-term visual sequelae in patients with TEN.
- This trial will investigate clinical and molecular outcomes of topical clobetasol application and hopefully provide insight into the disease pathophysiology.
- This trial will serve as a proof-of-concept study to assess safety and efficacy, and may serve as a basis for future large controlled trials of topical steroids.
Citation
Wilken et al., Topical clobetasol for the treatment of toxic epidermal necrolysis: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial, Trials, 2015. Reference
Trials Journal 
