Photopheresis therapy of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma: The Yale-New Haven Hospital experience

Over the past two years, the photopheresis treatment program at Yale-New Haven Hospital has treated 32 patients with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. There were 19 erythrodermic patients who had photopheresis as their first systemic therapy. Five of these cleared 75 percent of their skin and the majority of erythrodermics achieved an improved quality of life. Those with best responses were treated earlier in the course of their disease and had more normal proportions of CD4 and CD8 subsets when compared to patients with poor responses. In addition, patients with tumor stage disease and those patients in relapse after intensive radio- and chemotherapy were treated with photopheresis. These results demonstrate that photopheresis has a role in the management of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.