Dr. Chen Discusses Management of Early Stage, Advanced CTCL

Pei-Ling Chen, MD, PhD, is a member of the Pathology and Cutaneous Oncology Departments at Moffitt Cancer Center and a member of the Moffitt Cutaneous Lymphoma Multidisciplinary Clinic specializing in the the research and treatment of patients with transformed cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL).

CTCL is incurable but treatable and patients with early stage disease have good prognosis. In advanced stages, CTCL is can be disfiguring and lethal, often requiring multiple rounds and recurrent courses of therapy.

Dr Chen says that management of the disease usually requires a multidisciplinary team of specialists in dermatology, hematology/oncology, dermatopathology, and radiation oncology. Patients with early-stage disease typically receive skin-directed therapies, such as topical steroids, UVB and PUVA phototherapy, and local radiation.