Clinical and Histological Characteristics of Mycosis Fungoides and Sézary Syndrome: A Retrospective, Single-centre Study of 43 Patients from Eastern Denmark

Acta Derm Venereol. 2019 Dec 1;99(13):1231-1236. doi: 10.2340/00015555-3351.

Abstract

Diagnosis of mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome can be very challenging. Clinical and histopathological data for patients with mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome in Denmark are limited. A retrospective study was performed in Region Zealand, Denmark from 1990 to 2016. A total of 43 patients with mycosis fungoides or Sézary syndrome were identified during the period. At the time of diagnosis the patients' mean age was 64.3 years and 74.5% had early-stage (≤IIA) disease. The mean time from onset of skin disease to diagnosis was 4.4 years. Surprisingly, 43% progressed to a higher disease stage, and risk of disease progression was higher for stage IB than IA (p = 0.01). All cases displayed some degree of epidermotropism and the infiltrates consisted of pleomorphic lymphocytes with a T-helper (CD4+/CD8-) phenotype. This study describes, for the first time, all aspects of clinical and histopathological findings in patients with mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome in a well-characterized Danish cohort.

Keywords: Sézary syndrome; cutaneous T-cell lymphoma; non-Hodgkin lymphoma; mycosis fungoides.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Biopsy, Needle
  • Cohort Studies
  • Denmark
  • Disease-Free Survival
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Mycosis Fungoides / mortality*
  • Mycosis Fungoides / pathology*
  • Mycosis Fungoides / therapy
  • Neoplasm Invasiveness / pathology
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Prognosis
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Risk Assessment
  • Sezary Syndrome / mortality*
  • Sezary Syndrome / pathology*
  • Sezary Syndrome / therapy
  • Skin Neoplasms / mortality*
  • Skin Neoplasms / pathology*
  • Skin Neoplasms / therapy
  • Survival Analysis