There is a small but statistically significant increased risk for cancer in patients with psoriasis, which is mainly driven by lymphoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer, Megan H. Noe, MD, MPH, MSCE, of the department of dermatology at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, shared recently.
Noe gave a presentation at the recent American Academy of Dermatology Summer Meeting on the risk for malignancy in patients with psoriasis and whether treatment type may affect this risk.
“All patients with psoriasis should be monitored for nonmelanoma skin cancer,” Noe says. “There is always a question about how to treat a patient with a history of cancer and what psoriasis treatments are best for them. The take home is every patient should be thought of on an individual basis, as there are many factors to consider: what type of cancer they had, when it was diagnosed and how it was treated.”
Noe suggests to manage these patients with oncology and primary care to fully understand the risk for recurrence and find the psoriasis treatment that works best for that patient.
[Source: Healio Dermatology]
