PUVA in early mycosis fungoides may give long-term remission and delay extracutaneous spread

We report a follow-up for 3-18 years of 24 patients with the non-infiltrated patch and infiltrated plaque stage of mycosis fungoides, treated with psoralen photochemotherapy (PUVA) and on resistant infiltration or development of tumours also with fractionated radiation therapy. All patients with patch and limited plaques showed complete remission after initial PUVA therapy. Half of the patients with patch stage mycosis fungoides and also half of the patients with plaque stage mycosis fungoides were in complete remission when the study ended. Most of them had remission periods for years after early PUVA treatment. Patients with more advanced mycosis fungoides needed repeated periods of PUVA therapy. Two patients with extensive infiltrated plaques did not reach complete remission at all during the study but progressed and finally died of their T-cell lymphoma. Another 4 patients with extensive plaque stage mycosis fungoides died after initial complete remission for a maximum of 3 years. In this investigation the clinical evaluation was made by one dermatologist and the histopathological evaluation by one pathologist. This is of importance since in the early stages of mycosis fungoides the diagnosis is challenging and may require a combination of clinical, histopathological and molecular evaluations. The identification of early disease is crucial for the rapid implementation of adequate treatment. The study shows that early PUVA therapy may delay extracutaneous spread and possibly also in some cases be curative.