In medicine, photopheresis (aka extracorporeal photopheresis or ECP)[1] is a form of apheresis and photodynamic therapy in which blood is subject to apheresis to separate buffy coat (WBC + platelets) from whole blood, chemically treated with 8-methoxypsoralen (instilled into a collection bag or given per os in advance), exposed to ultraviolet light (UVA), and then returned to the patient.
A 1987 New England Journal of Medicine publication introduced photopheresis involving 8-methoxypsoralen.,[1][3] now standard U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) therapy for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.
[4][5] Photopheresis has also been successful in treating epidermolysis bullosa acquisita when all other treatments have been ineffective.
[6] Minimal observed side effects for patients receiving photopheresis include hypotension and syncope resulting from volume shifts during leukapheresis phase of treatment.
Photopheresis is also an experimental treatment for patients with cardiac, pulmonary and renal allograft rejection, graft-versus-host disease, autoimmune diseases, nephrogenic systemic fibrosis and ulcerative colitis.