Treatment of ankylosing spondylitis by extracorporeal photochemotherapy given for mycosis fungoides: a potential treatment option?

We describe a patient with cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), in association with concurrent ankylosing spondylitis (AS), who achieved a long-lasting complete remission of both diseases after 3 cycles of extracorporeal photochemotherapy (ECP). The combination of CTCL with AS is very rare. In our patient, the CTCL was refractory to psoralen-UVA. He was unable to continue with administration of interferon α because of exacerbation of his back, anterior chest, and bilateral heel pain. The Bath AS Functional Index and Bath AS Disease Activity Index scores were determined to be 2.2 and 5.8, respectively. Extracorporeal photochemotherapy has been shown to be effective in the treatment of CTCL consisting of reinfusion of 3 to 9 × 10 leukocytes, taken from the patient by leukopheresis and treated in an extracorporeal system with 8-methoxypsoralen and UVA. There is a strong suggestion that ECP as a monotherapy can provide a significant benefit for other T-cell-mediated diseases including rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis. This is the first report describing an effective treatment of AS in which pain, inflammatory response, Bath AS Disease Activity Index, and Bath AS Functional Index improved after initiation of ECP.