Clinical dermatology times Concise report: Narrow-band UVB in the treatment of early stage mycosis fungoides: report of 16 patients

Although early stage mycosis fungoides (MF) has a generally good prognosis, and long-term survival rates with current therapies (UVB, photochemotherapy, topical nitrogen mustard, electron beam radiotherapy) are similar, there is concern regarding their potential side effects. It has been reported that the same effective UVB dose is safer than PUVA in terms of carcinogenicity, and that it produces fewer side effects. Our aim was to evaluate the effect of narrow-band UVB in the treatment of early stage MF. Sixteen patients (seven males, nine females; mean age, 40 years) with early stage MF received TL-01 phototherapy three times per week using a standard protocol. Twelve patients (75%) had complete response in a mean of 27.9 treatments, three had partial response, and one no response. Upon discontinuation of treatment, six patients with complete response relapsed in a mean time to relapse of 4.5 months. The present study indicates that narrow-band-UVB is an effective treatment modality for early stage MF.