Diffey Brian
Regional Medical Physics Department, Newcastle General Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne NE4 6BE, UK.
Phys Med Biol. 2006 Jul 7;51(13):R229-44. doi: 10.1088/0031-9155/51/13/R14. Epub 2006 Jun 20.
Psoralen photochemotherapy (PUVA) is the combined treatment of skin disorders with a photosensitizing drug (Psoralen) and UltraViolet A radiation. The introduction of PUVA therapy has arguably been the most important development in dermatology over the past 30 years and from the first days of the treatment being introduced in the UK, British medical physicists were an integral part of the effort to establish it. Medical physicists have contributed to this development in a number of ways, from designing irradiation units in the early days of the technique, through to collaborating with dermatologists in prosecuting clinical and experimental studies aimed at improving patient outcomes. That the dose of UVA radiation is administered quantitatively, and not qualitatively, has probably been the single most important contribution made by several medical physicists over this period. However, despite concerns that were expressed almost 30 years ago about the accuracy with which UVA doses are administered to patients, the medical physics community still has some way to go before we can be satisfied that statements about UVA irradiance and dose can be made with confidence.
补骨脂素光化学疗法（PUVA）是一种使用光敏药物（补骨脂素）和紫外线A辐射联合治疗皮肤疾病的方法。可以说，PUVA疗法的引入是过去30年皮肤科领域最重要的进展。自该疗法在英国首次应用以来，英国医学物理学家一直是推动其发展不可或缺的一部分。医学物理学家通过多种方式推动了这一进展，从该技术早期设计照射设备，到与皮肤科医生合作开展旨在改善患者治疗效果的临床和实验研究。在此期间，几位医学物理学家做出的最重要贡献或许是定量而非定性地给予紫外线A辐射剂量。然而，尽管近30年前就有人对给予患者的紫外线A剂量的准确性表示担忧，但在我们能够确信有关紫外线A辐照度和剂量的表述准确无误之前，医学物理界仍有很长的路要走。
