Dermatoscopic assessment of treatment response in patients undergoing autologous non-cultured epidermal cell suspension for the treatment of stable vitiligo: A prospective study

There is lack of literature on serial dermatoscopic assessment in patients undergoing non-cultured epidermal cell suspension (NCES) for treatment of stable vitiligo. This prospective study was conducted to evaluate the role of serial dermatoscopy in assessing disease stability and predicting repigmentation rates in vitiligo patients undergoing NCES. Dermatoscopic assessment of target lesions were done at baseline and post-NCES at week 4, 8, 12, 16, and 24. Patches obtaining >90% repigmentation at 24 weeks were categorized to have obtained excellent repigmentation. The dermatoscopic features of target lesions that showed clinical signs of disease activity anytime during the follow-up period were compared to those maintaining clinical stability throughout. Twenty-six vitiligo patients with 52 patches, clinically stable for atleast 1 year were recruited. At follow-up, six patches showed clinical signs of instability. Five patches in the unstable group developed satellite lesions by week 16, compared to none in the stable group (p < 0.05). Excellent repigmentation was achieved in 29 out of 52 patches. Appearance of normal reticular pigment network at 8 weeks was a positive predictor of excellent response (OR = 10.5, CI 1.2-89.7), whereas, altered pigment network at 12, 16, and 24 weeks and telangiectasias at 12 and 16 weeks significantly reduced the odds of excellent repigmentation.