Excimer laser in the treatment of mycosis fungoides.
BACKGROUND
Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common type of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, which typically presents as a patch or plaque in early-stage disease. Phototherapy including psoralen plus ultraviolet A and ultraviolet B are well-established treatment modalities in management of early-stage MF. Only a limited number of reports have evaluated the efficacy of 308-nm excimer laser in therapy of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.


OBJECTIVE
We sought to evaluate the efficacy of 308-nm excimer laser (XTRAC, PhotoMedex, Montgomeryville, PA) in patients with stage IA to IIA MF.


METHODS
We reviewed the clinical and laboratory characteristics of 6 consecutive patients given the diagnosis of refractory MF who underwent treatment with excimer laser.


RESULTS
We found that the 308-nm excimer laser is a safe and well-tolerated alternative therapy for early-stage MF. In addition, we were able to delineate criteria to help predict treatment response. Our data showed that 4 (66%) patients achieved clinical improvement (3 complete responses, 1 partial response), 1 had stable disease, and 1 had progressive disease.


CONCLUSIONS
This was a retrospective study consisting of 6 patients. A prospective study with a larger sample size would be desirable for future studies.


CONCLUSIONS
The use of 308-nm excimer laser in the treatment of stage IA to IIA MF showed clinical and pathological benefit for patients with isolated lesions or lesions in areas that may be difficult to treat because of anatomic location.
Department of Malignant Hematology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, Florida. Electronic address: darcie.deaver@moffitt.org.
Darcie
D
Deaver
Department of Dermatology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.
Ashley
A
Cauthen
Department of Dermatology, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida.
George
G
Cohen
Department of Malignant Hematology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, Florida.
Lubomir
L
Sokol
Department of Dermatopathology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, Florida.
Frank
F
Glass
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D054018:Lasers, Excimer; D028022:Low-Level Light Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D016410:Lymphoma, T-Cell, Cutaneous / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009182:Mycosis Fungoides / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
cutaneous T-cell lymphoma; excimer laser therapy; mycosis fungoides; skin-directed therapy; treatment