The Risk of Skin Cancer in Psoriasis Patients Treated with UVB Therapy

Abstract

Phototherapy is an effective and widely used treatment for generalised plaque psoriasis. Despite the mutagenic effects of UVB this type of therapy is still assumed to be a safe treatment option. We have performed a cross sectional study to assess the risk of skin cancer in the cohort of psoriasis patients treated with UVB. A total of 162 white patients (116 men and 46 women, mean ± standard deviation age 56.0 ± 13.5 years) were included in the study. All patients have previously been treated with UVB at least 100 times in the last 5 years. Eight patients (4.9%, 0.95 CI: 2.2-9.5%) out of the 162 included in the study had histopathologically verified skin cancer. We found that the risk of skin cancer in psoriasis patients treated with UVB correlated with the number of treatments (controlling for age) but not with the type of UVB lamp. How-ever, the overall risk of malignancy in the UVB-treated patients was not greater than in the general population.

Methotrexate treatment and risk for cutaneous malignant melanoma: a retrospective comparative registry-based cohort study

“…Another publication suggested a lower risk for metastasis in a human melanoma cell line in mice treated with MTX . In a previous study from our group, we found that the risk of skin cancer, including melanoma, in patients with psoriasis treated with UVB therapy correlated with the number of treatments (controlling for age), but the overall risk of malignancy was not higher than in the general population …”

“…23 In a previous study from our group, we found that the risk of skin cancer, including melanoma, in patients with psoriasis treated with UVB therapy correlated with the number of treatments (controlling for age), but the overall risk of malignancy was not higher than in the general population. 24 It is important to mention that no patient with MTX as antineoplastic treatment could have been included in the study, because these treatments are given in an inpatient setting and therefore are not included in the present study. Analysing the results in the study, it is instrumental to mention the risk for surveillance bias, i.e.…”

Tanning bed exposure and multiple early-onset basal cell carcinoma

“…Taken together, these findings suggest that UVBirradiation without UVA is less efficient in inducing skin carcinogenesis. As a matter of fact, UVB phototherapy is not associated with a significant cancer risk (26,27). The increased evidence that UVA could be involved in carcinogenesis is worrisome because of the high percentage of UVA emitted by modern tanning devices (16).…”

Evaluation of Psoriasis Patients

“…Latest data suggests patients with more severe psoriasis have an increased risk of cancer-related mortality, this association being the strongest for lymphoproliferative malignancies and cutaneous malignancies [50,51]. The increased risk is likely linked to male gender, advancing age or COPD in patients with psoriasis arthritis [53].…”