Graft versus Host Disease and phototherapy

This is another area of interest in our group: the cutaneous manifestations of acute and chronic Graft versus Host Disease. We have a monthly multidisciplinary clinic with Haematology in the Crown Princess Mary Cancer Centre at Westmead Hospital. The Haematology group is developing a fantastic team of specialists (Respiratory, Endocrinology, Gynaecology, etc) around their clinic.
We have reviewed recently the use of phototherapy in this population. Although the overall conclusion is that large controlled studies are needed to provide statistically significant evidence on the effectiveness of phototherapy, phototherapy has shown some promising results in case-based studies with a small number of patients. Patients receiving phototherapy were able to reduce the amount of steroids they were taking over the duration of the treatment, an steroid-sparing effect that may be important for refractory GvHD.