ArticleJournal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV2019
Port wine stain treatment outcomes have not improved over the past three decades.
Article in Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Evolutionary Trends and Research Focal Points on Port Wine Stains: A Scientometric and Meta-Analysis.Journal of cosmetic dermatology · 2025Pooled it
- Does interval time between pulsed dye laser treatments for port-wine stains influence outcome? A systematic review and meta-analysis.Lasers in medical science · 2021Pooled it
- Therapeutic Strategies for Untreated Capillary Malformations of the Head and Neck Region: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses.American journal of clinical dermatology · 2021Pooled it
- Treatment Outcome Measurement Instruments for Port Wine Stains: A Systematic Review of Their Measurement Properties.Dermatology (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Pooled it
- Clinical outcome measures and scoring systems used in prospective studies of port wine stains: A systematic review.PloS one · 2020Pooled it
- Port-wine stains: molecular drivers, translational models, and emerging theragnostic directions.Lasers in medical science · 2026Review
- Vessel diameter as a potential predictor of pulsed dye laser response in port wine stain: a retrospective exploratory reflectance confocal microscopy study.Lasers in medical science · 2026Article
- The Diagnosis and Treatment Technology of Port-Wine Stain, and the Prospect of Future Treatment.Dermatology and therapy · 2026Review
- Single-vessel transcriptome map pathological landscapes and reveal NR2F2-mediated smooth muscle cell phenotype acquisition in capillary malformations.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Photo-Mediated Ultrasound Therapy (PUT) for the Treatment of Deep Cutaneous Vasculature.IEEE open journal of ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control · 2025Article
- Real-time mapping of photo-sono therapy induced cavitation using Doppler optical coherence tomography.Optics letters · 2024Article
- Port Wine Birthmark Therapy: A New Direction.Lasers in surgery and medicine · 2024Article
- Current clinical evidence is insufficient to support HMME-PDT as the first choice of treatment for young children with port wine birthmarks.Lasers in surgery and medicine · 2024Review
- Evaluating the clinical efficacy of pulsed dye laser with sirolimus for treatment of capillary malformations: A systematic review.Skin health and disease · 2024Review
- Perturbations of Glutathione and Sphingosine Metabolites in Port Wine Birthmark Patient-Derived Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells.Metabolites · 2023Article
- Supporting materials: Endothelial cells differentiated from patient dermal fibroblast-derived induced pluripotent stem cells resemble vascular malformations of Port Wine Birthmark.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Perturbations of glutathione and sphingosine metabolites in Port Wine Birthmark patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Patient-Reported Outcomes of Medical Tattooing for Capillary Malformations.Dermatology (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Feasibility of photoacoustic-guided ultrasound treatment for port wine stains.Lasers in surgery and medicine · 2023Article
- Hemoporfin-mediated photodynamic therapy with general anesthesia showed superior efficacy in the treatment of port-wine stains: a retrospective evaluation.Frontiers in medicine · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSince the early '80s, the pulsed dye laser has been the standard treatment tool for non-invasive port wine stain (PWS) removal. In the last three decades, a considerable amount of research has been conducted to improve clinical outcomes, given that a fraction of PWS patients proved recalcitrant to laser treatment. Whether this research actually led to increased therapeutic efficacy has not been systematically investigated.
objectiveTo analyse therapeutic efficacy in PWS patients globally from 1986 to date.
methodsPubMed was searched for all available PWS trials. Studies with a quartile percentage improvement scale were included, analysed and plotted chronologically. Treatment and patient characteristics were extracted. A mean clearance per study was calculated and plotted. A 5-study simple moving average was co-plotted to portray the trend in mean clearance over time. The data were separately analysed for multiple treatment sessions in previously untreated patients.
resultsSixty-five studies were included (24.3% of eligible studies) comprising 6207 PWS patients. Of all patients, 21% achieved 75-100% clearance. Although a few studies reported remarkably good outcomes in a subset of carefully selected patients, there was no upward trend over time in mean clearance.
conclusionThe efficacy of PWS therapy has not improved in the past decades, despite numerous technical innovations and pharmacological interventions. With an unwavering patient demand for better outcomes, the need for development and implementation of novel therapeutic strategies to clear all PWS is as valid today as it was 30 years ago.
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Registered trials
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