GLASGOW, SCOTLAND — A review of all patients in one U.K. center who received more than 200 whole-body ultraviolet A radiation treatments between 1977 and 2004 has confirmed the potential for life-threatening consequences and the need for lifelong careful follow-up, Paul B. Farrant, M.D., said at the annual meeting of the British Association of Dermatologists.
Of the 30 patients, 24 had been treated for psoriasis, 5 for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, and 1 for generalized pruritus. The number of treatments ranged from 205 to 1,027, with a mean of 405, he said in a poster session.
Three patients had developed squamous cell carcinomas, one of whom died as a consequence.
This patient was 53 years old and had had 326 treatments, said Dr. Farrant of the Brighton (England) and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust. An additional four patients developed a total of eight basal cell carcinomas, but there were no cases of malignant melanoma.
During the course of follow-up, 11 other patients had died for reasons unrelated to PUVA therapy, and 13 were still being followed by the dermatology service. Only one of these patients was still receiving PUVA. “The study showed that our follow-up hasn't been rigorous enough for these patients, and that it needs to be lifelong,” he said.
—Nancy Walsh