Observation of clinical efficacy of photodynamic therapy in 3 patients with refractory plaque-stage mycosis fungoides.

Mycosis fungoides (MF) is one of the most common cutaneous T cell lymphomas (CTCLs). Currently there are a variety of treatment methods for early-stage MF, most of which are effective. However, some lesions in plaque-stage react poorly to conventional therapy. We chose 3 patients with plaque-stage MF who failed routine therapy, to perform 2-3 times Aminolaevulinic acid-based photodynamic therapy (ALA-PDT). And it turned out that these patients responded well to ALA-PDT: the skin lesions of 2 patients subsided completely, and the last one had more than 75% of the lesions eliminated. In conclusion, compared with traditional therapy, ALA-PDT had tremendous therapeutic effect on refractory plaque-stage MF, with advantages of less side effects and quicker recovery. Therefore, ALA-PDT was an effective method for treating refractory plaque-stage MF.