The SAVASI is a self-assessment version of the VASI (Vitiligo Area Scoring Index) for a patient with vitiligo. The authors are from the Academic Medical Centre Amsterdam, MC Haaglanden and VU Medical Centre in The Netherlands.
Patient selection: vitiligo
Differences from VASI: 7 body regions (versus 5)
Body regions:
(1) face and neck
(2) trunk
(3) genital region
(4) upper extremities excluding hands
(5) hands
(6) lower extremities exluding feet
(7) feet
Depigmentation grades:
(1) 0%
(2) 10%
(3) 25%
(4) 50%
(5) 75%
(6) 90%
(7) 100%
The unit of measure for affected skin area is the hand palm, which represents approximately 1% of body surface area (handpalm rule).
There are 2 ways of measuring the skin score:
(1) measuring each depigmentation grade over the entire body (combining regions)
(2) measuring each depigmentation grade in each region then summating for the whole body
basic skin score =
= (number of handpalms) * (depigmentation grade)
cumulative skin score =
= SUM(basic skin scores for entire body)
Interpretation:
• minimum cumulative skin score: 0
• maximum cumulative skin score: 1 (or 100%)
• The maximum cumulative score is 100% of body surface area showing 100% depigmentation.
• Changes in the SAVASI can be used to monitor change in disease severity and response to therapy.
Performance:
• Since this is a self-assesment score, some body areas will be less accessible than others for examination.
• There would be considerable variation in measuring areas. Digital whole body photographs would offer greater consistency in measurements.
