Steroid‐resistant eosinophilic fasciitis successfully treated with addition of extracorporeal photopheresis

Abstract

Eosinophilic fasciitis (EF) is an uncommon fibrosing disease of the fascia with characteristic cutaneous and hematologic manifestations. Although EF is most commonly treated with corticosteroids at the beginning, a considerable number of patients show an inadequate response and hence various therapeutic strategies have been tried, including extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP). We describe the case of a 66‐year‐old woman with steroid‐resistant EF that improved significantly after ECP was added to her treatment regimen. To date, only six cases of this therapeutic strategy have been reported in English literature.

Extracorporeal Photopheresis in Dermatological Diseases

“…Evidence on the efficacy of ECP for the treatment of EF is limited to case reports ( n = 6) [ 38 , 39 , 40 ]. Minciullo et al administered ECP treatments on two patients who developed eosinophilic fasciitis after undergoing an allogeneic bone marrow transplantation [ 40 ].…”

“…All three patients reported an increase in their quality of life and were able to decrease the dose of their immunosuppressants [ 39 ]. Partarrieu-Mejias et al reported a successful ECP treatment for a patient who was diagnosed with steroid-resistant EF [ 38 ].…”

Eosinophile Fasziitis als seltene Nebenwirkung unter PD1‐Inhibitor Therapie

“…Wenn eine immunmodulierende Therapie über Steroide hinaus erforderlich ist, hat sich Methotrexat bei EF als wirksam erwiesen 3 . Des Weiteren stellt sich die ECP als eine möglich effektive Basisbehandlung dar, welche mit konventionellen Therapien für die EF kombiniert werden kann 4 …”