title: [Combined therapy of psoralen plus ultraviolet A followed by narrow band ultraviolet B photochemotherapy for early stage mycosis fungoides].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Only a few clinical reports in the treatment of early mycosis fungoides (MF)(IA, IB, IIA stage) are available in the literature. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of narrow-band UVB and psoralen plus ultraviolet A (PUVA) photochemoterapy in 24 patients with early-stage MF, and explore a new approach for the treatment of early mycosis fungoides.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 24 identified early mycosis fungoides patients received PUVA, NB-UVB and a combined therapy of PUVA followed by NB-UVB (n = 9/6/9) irradiation. A retrospective study was carried out to analyze the sex, age of onset, TNM stage, treatment, and duration of treatment, and times of treatment, duration of maintenance treatment, effective and recurrence in these patients. The data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0 and a two-sided test at the α = 0.05 level of significance was conducted.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 24 patients studied, the average treatment was 104.5 (95% CI, 75.71-133.29) times. The average duration of treatment was 12.88 (95% CI, 9.90-15.85) months. The average maintenance treatment time was 11.08 (95% CI, 2.13-20.04) months. The effective rate (CR+PR) of PUVA treatment was 88.9%, recurrence rate was 11.1% (n = 9). In the NB-UVB treatment group, the effective rate was 100.0%, and the recurrence rate was 33.3% (n = 6). In the PUVA followed by NB-UVB (combination therapy) treatment group, the effective rate was 77.8% and the recurrence rate was 55.6% (n = 9). There were no significant differences among the three groups in terms of number of treatments, treatment duration, maintenance treatment duration, effective rate and recurrence rate (P > 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  PUVA and NB-UVB are effective and safe in the targeted therapy of early stage mycosis fungoides. The combined therapy of PUVA followed by NB-UVB can reduce the total PUVA dose and risk of developing skin cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China. Email: yuehualiu@263.net.
authors.forename: Yuehua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
authors.forename: Heyi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
authors.forename: Yagang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zuo
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100730, China.
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fang
mesh_terms: D003131:Combined Modality Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005363:Ficusin; D006801:Humans; D009182:Mycosis Fungoides / Q000628:therapy*; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D011701:PUVA Therapy; D010778:Photochemotherapy; D010808:Physical Examination; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014467:Ultraviolet Therapy
chemical_list: D005363:Ficusin