Abstract
Cyclosporine A (CyA) is widely used for psoriasis, but it has adverse effect of hypertension, renal damage, and gingival overgrowth. We have tried telmisartan, an angiotensin II receptor blocker, to treat hypertension complicating CyA treated psoriasis. Ten patients were entried and 3 had no history of hypertention medication, and 7 had had preceding treatment with nifedipine and switched to telmisartan. Telmisartan was prescribed 20 to 40mg per day. In two out of 7 switched patients, blood pressure were upregulated after 4 weeks requiring addition of nifedipine, but controlled after 8 weeks. Average of serum creatinine levels were elevated after 4 weeks, but returned to the original level after 8 weeks. Nine patients had shown gingival overgrowth, and switching to telmisartan brought improvement in two patients. Improvement of gingival overgrowth was also obtained by dental treatment. Telmisartan is an effective antihypertension depressant and may help improving the gingival overgrowth caused by combination of CyA and nifedipine.
