Childhood mycosis fungoides: New observations from the Middle East

Abstract

Mycosis fungoides is the most common type of Cutaneous T-cell Lymphoma. Data on clinical characteristics and disease progression in children with mycosis fungoides are limited. Five patients from the Middle East with childhood mycosis fungoides are reported here. Four of those patients presented with hypopigmented patches as the sole manifestation of the disease. Histopathologic features were consistent with mycosis fungoides in all patients and in four of five patients CD4+ phenotype was over-represented immunohistochemically. All patients had excellent prognosis. Only one patient with the classic erythematous patch/plaque type progressed to stage IIA. It seems the phenotype expression with either CD4+ or CD8+ has no implication on disease progression. However, the clinical morphologic type might impact disease progression with the hypopigmented type being the variant with the best prognosis. Further studies with large number of patients are required for better characterization of Middle Eastern patients with childhood MF.