Palliative Local Radiotherapy in the Treatment of Tumor-stage Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma/ Mycosis Fungoides

Objective To determine the efficacy of palliative radiotherapy in treating tumor-stage cutaneous T-cell lymphoma/mycosis fungoides （MF）. Methods From January 2008 to January 2013, a total of 11 patients with tumor-stage MF were treated with local radiation therapy in Peking Union Medical College Hospital. The median age of these patients was 53.36± 14.45 years. Female-male ratio was 1 ： 1.2. The average course of disease was 10. 82± 3.37 years. All the patients were treated with local electronic beam irradiation with a total median dosage of 48.55±9.51 （40-74） Gy in an average of 24.55±5.57 （20-40） fractions, 5 fractions per week. Results The median follow-up time was 55.27±29.3 （13-103） months. No severe acute or chronic side effects of irradiation were observed. Complete clinical response （CR） rate of the radiated sites was 54.5% （6/11）, partial response （PR） rate was 36.4% （4/11）, and the overall response rate （CR±PR） was 90.9%. One patient showed no response. Conclusion Local radiotherapy with psolaren plus ultraviolet A and/or interferon maintaining treatment is an effective palliative therapy in the treatment of tumor-stage MF patients.