BACKGROUND: Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is a scarring alopecia that mainly affects postmenopausal women characterized by recession of the frontotemporal hairline and eyebrow loss. Current techniques to assess FFA activity are limited and involve noninvasive tools that assess disease progression or an invasive technique such as scalp biopsies. However, since progression of FFA is very slow, it is very important to develop a noninvasive technique to assess disease activity to monitor treatment response. OBJECTIVES: To provide a standardized and objective method to assess FFA activity. METHODS: We evaluated the correlation between trichoscopy and pathological features (degree of lymphocytic infiltration) in 20 dermoscopy-guided biopsies of FFA. At trichoscopy, we divided the severity of peripilar casts into 3 grades according to their thickness. To validate the trichoscopic visual scale, we showed the images to 7 dermatologists with interest in hair diseases. Concordance was assessed using the Kendall Tau-b concordance test. RESULTS: A strong correlation between severity of peripilar casts at trichoscopy and degree of lymphocytic infiltrate was observed by the Kendall Tau-b test. Validation showed very good inter- and intraobserver agreement. CONCLUSION: The trichoscopic visual scale allows noninvasive assessment of scalp inflammation in FFA in different scalp regions and therefore provides optimal guidance for treatment.
BACKGROUND: Frontal fibrosing alopecia (FFA) is a scarring alopecia that mainly affects postmenopausal women characterized by recession of the frontotemporal hairline and eyebrow loss. Current techniques to assess FFA activity are limited and involve noninvasive tools that assess disease progression or an invasive technique such as scalp biopsies. However, since progression of FFA is very slow, it is very important to develop a noninvasive technique to assess disease activity to monitor treatment response. OBJECTIVES: To provide a standardized and objective method to assess FFA activity. METHODS: We evaluated the correlation between trichoscopy and pathological features (degree of lymphocytic infiltration) in 20 dermoscopy-guided biopsies of FFA. At trichoscopy, we divided the severity of peripilar casts into 3 grades according to their thickness. To validate the trichoscopic visual scale, we showed the images to 7 dermatologists with interest in hair diseases. Concordance was assessed using the Kendall Tau-b concordance test. RESULTS: A strong correlation between severity of peripilar casts at trichoscopy and degree of lymphocytic infiltrate was observed by the Kendall Tau-b test. Validation showed very good inter- and intraobserver agreement. CONCLUSION: The trichoscopic visual scale allows noninvasive assessment of scalp inflammation in FFA in different scalp regions and therefore provides optimal guidance for treatment.
Authors: Pablo Fernández-Crehuet; Ana Rita Rodrigues-Barata; Sergio Vañó-Galván; Cristina Serrano-Falcón; Ana Maria Molina-Ruiz; Salvador Arias-Santiago; Antonio Martorell-Calatayud; Ramón Grimalt; Gloria Garnacho-Saucedo; Salvio Serrano; Jose Carlos Moreno; Pedro Jaén; Francisco M Camacho-Martínez Journal: J Am Acad Dermatol Date: 2015-02 Impact factor: 11.527
Authors: Sergio Vañó-Galván; Ana M Molina-Ruiz; Cristina Serrano-Falcón; Salvador Arias-Santiago; Ana R Rodrigues-Barata; Gloria Garnacho-Saucedo; Antonio Martorell-Calatayud; Pablo Fernández-Crehuet; Ramón Grimalt; Beatriz Aranegui; Emiliano Grillo; Blanca Diaz-Ley; Rafael Salido; Sivia Pérez-Gala; Salvio Serrano; Jose Carlos Moreno; Pedro Jaén; Francisco M Camacho Journal: J Am Acad Dermatol Date: 2014-02-05 Impact factor: 11.527
Authors: María Librada Porriño-Bustamante; María Antonia Fernández-Pugnaire; Salvador Arias-Santiago Journal: J Clin Med Date: 2021-04-21 Impact factor: 4.241