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Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on March 7, 2006
Rheumatology 2006 45(6):653-655; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kel063
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

EDITORIAL

Light therapy (with UVA-1) for SLE patients: is it a good or bad idea?

S. Pavel

Department of Dermatology, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands

Correspondence to: S.Pavel@lumc.nl

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The development of skin rash—an unusual reaction to sunlight—is one of the criteria used in the diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). In addition, exposure to sunlight is a risk factor for the induction or exacerbation of the disease. Patients with SLE who regularly protect themselves against sunlight appear to have significantly less renal involvement, thrombocytopenia, hospitalization and requirement for cyclophosphamide treatment [1]. All these facts support the importance of photoprotection in patients with SLE and suggest that light therapy in SLE patients may be more detrimental than beneficial.

However, in 1987 McGrath and co-workers [2] reported that long-wave ultraviolet (UV) radiation had a favourable effect on disease activity in SLE model mice. These rather unexpected results were later confirmed in a group of SLE patients [3]. Until now, there have been only a few clinical trials investigating this new therapeutic approach. They have . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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