Six patients with early-stage cutaneous T-cell lymphoma successfully treated with topical 5-fluorouracil.

Topical 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) has been used in the treatment of various benign and malignant tumors of the skin, but only few address its therapeutic value on cutaneoues T-cell lymphoma. (CTCL). The authors report six cases of early stage CTCL responded to topical 5-FU. All of these patients (four females and two males) with early stage CTCL (1A = 4; 18 = 1; 2B = 1) had good response to topical 5-FU following three to 18 months' treatment. Four patients achieved complete response (CR) and two patients responded partially (PR). Tolerance to the treatment was good, with the exception of mild irritation, with no patients reporting serious side effects. The overall efficacy, relatively modest price and low incidence of side effects indicate that topical 5-FU has a place for treatment of early stage CTCL.