title: Miscellaneous indications for extracorporeal photochemotherapy (ECP).
abstract: Extracorporeal photochemotherapy (ECP) has been applied to many T-cell mediated diseases where immunosuppressive drugs are insufficient or not tolerated. As ECP is mainly used in rare indications after failure of other therapies, controlled studies are hardly possible. In addition, the importance of the extracorporeal circuit imposes ethical doubts in organising sham ECP procedure, which explains the rarity of controlled double-blind studies. However, encouraging and even successful results have been reported in newly developed diabetes mellitus, erosive lichen planus, Crohn's disease, systemic sclerosis, nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy, atopic dermatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematodes, psoriasis arthritis, cutaneous mucinosis, scleromyxoedema, pemphigus vulgaris, multiple sclerosis, eosinophilic fasciitis and in the prevention of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) restenosis. This article discusses the various levels of evidence in the above cited indications.
authors.affiliation: Head of Dijon Blood Transfusion Centre and Blood Collection Department, Etablissement Français du Sang Bourgogne Franche-Comté, site de Dijon, 2, rue Angélique Ducoudray, BP 47834, 21078 Dijon Cedex, France. Electronic address: heidrun.andreu@efs.sante.fr.
authors.forename: Heidrun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Andreu-Ullrich
mesh_terms: D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007165:Immunosuppression Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D017893:Photopheresis / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Autoimmune disease; ECP; Extracorporeal photochemotherapy; Photopheresis