To the Editor.—
Our studies of the effect of the histamine2 (H2) receptor antagonist, ranitidine, in patients with trauma- and blood transfusion-induced immunosuppression, in patients with multiple myeloma, and in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection,1 have included a few patients with psoriatic lesions. Some of these patients who were treated with the active drug showed improvement in psoriatic disease, but with recurrence within a few weeks after the therapy was discontinued. Based on these observations, and despite previous randomized, placebo-controlled studies of short-term treatment (28 days) with another H2 receptor antagonist, cimetidine, which had shown no beneficial effect,2 an open pilot study of the effect of long-term (4 months) treatment with ranitidine in patients with different forms of psoriasis was initiated.
Subjects and Methods.—
Six patients were studied in the autumn of 1989 (September 1 through December 31, 1989). All of the patients had