Psoriasis Therapies Linked to Increased Cancer Risk

A study has found that light and drug therapies used to treat psoriasis can lead to a risk of skin cancer that is three to nine times greater than for untreated psoriasis patients. Conducted by researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston, MA, USA), the study was published in the The Lancet (2001,358;9287:1042).

Among the treatments used for psoriasis are psoralen and ultraviolet A (PUVA) and cyclosporine. The study involved 844 patients who had received PUVA therapy from 1975-1976. Of these, 31 patients had also received cyclosporine treatment between 1975 and 1998. These patients had a three times greater risk of developing squamous cell skin cancer than patients who did not receive it. If the drug was taken for more than three months, the risk was increased four times. If a patient had received more than 200 PUVA treatments in addition to cyclosporine, the risk was nine times greater than for patients who had received fewer PUVA treatments and no cyclosporine.

Compared to people without psoriasis, patients with psoriasis who took cyclosporine for more than three months and had PUVA treatments had an incidence of squamous cell skin cancer more than 100 times that of the general population. Prior treatment with methotrexate, another drug commonly used in treating advanced psoriasis, did not have the same effect.




Related Links:
Beth Israel Med. Center