Concurrent short-term use of prednisolone with cyclosporine A accelerates pruritus reduction and improvement in clinical scoring in dogs with atopic dermatitis

Ramiro Dip, James Carmichael, Ingrid Letellier, Guenther Strehlau, Elizabeth Roberts, Emmanuel Bensignor, Wayne Rosenkrantz

A randomized, unmasked, multicenter study was conducted to evaluate the rate of pruritus reduction and improvement in clinical scoring by cyclosporine A (5 mg/kg orally, once daily for 28 days) either alone (n = 25 dogs) or with concurrent prednisolone (1 mg/kg once daily for 7 days, followed by alternate dosing for 14 days; n = 23 dogs) for the treatment of atopic dermatitis in dogs. Dogs were included in the study after exclusion of other causes of pruritic dermatitis, and were assessed by dermatologists on days 0, 14 ± 1 and 28 ± 2. Assessments included: general physical examination, CADESI-03 lesion scoring, overall clinical response, evaluation of adverse events (AEs), body weight and clinical pathology (hematology, clinical chemistry and urinalysis). Owner assessments, including pruritus (visual analogue scale, VAS) and overall assessment of response were conducted every 3-4 days, either during visits to the clinic or at home. Owners reported AEs to the investigator throughout the study.