A chart review of patients with early stage mycosis fungoides treated with psoralen plus UVA (PUVA)

PUVA has become a common form of treatment for early stage mycosis fungoides (MF). The purpose of this retrospective study was to review the clinical data of 51 MF patients (96% stage IA or IB) treated with PUVA at the Mt. Sinai MF clinic over the past 20 years. We analyzed the efficacy, safety, and remission duration in patients who were treated with a modified PUVA regimen. Forty-four of 51 patients (86%) achieved complete clinical clearing for all stages after initial PUVA therapy. The mean duration of remission with maintenance treatment was more than 27 months (range: 3 weeks to 130 months). The mean duration of disease from start of first PUVA therapy for all patients was 4.8 years (range: 0.7 to 130 months). PUVA for patients with early-stage MF is a safe and effective therapeutic modality with prolonged disease-free remissions, however, PUVA alone was not adequate for more advanced disease.