Clinical patterns and treatment response of patients with mycosis fungoides: a retrospective study

Abstract

Background: Mycosis fungoides (MF) is one of the primary cutaneous T-cell lymphomas and is considered to be the most common extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphomas. MF is characterized by different subtypes based on clinical presentation and immunophenotyping studies. We aimed to study the clinical patterns and treatment response in cases of MF among the patients attending a tertiary referral hospital in Saudi Arabia. Methodology: A retrospective study, case record-based study was done to review all the patients diagnosed with MF from January 2011 to May 2016. All cases with histopathological confirmation and immunophenotyping were included in the study. Treatment follow-up was reviewed for 9 months in all cases. Treatment response was graded based on a global physician assessment—complete response, good response, moderate response, and minimal or no response. Results: Out of 34 cases of MF included in study, 11 were hyperpigmented MF, 21 were hypopigmented MF, and there was one case each of poikilodermatous MF and pagetoid reticulosis. Of the total, fourteen (66.7%) of hypopigmented MF patients showed a complete response to phototherapy Narrowband UVB (NB-UVB) in combination with topical corticosteroids. Nine (81.8%) of hyperpigmented MF patients showed partial to the phototherapy NB-UVB in combination with the topical corticosteroid. Among the other types; one case of poikilodermatous MF (2.9%) showed a moderate response to phototherapy NB-UVB with topical corticosteroid and systemic acitretin. Conclusions: The most common type of MF seen in our study was the hypopigmented type, affecting a younger age group, and the same showed good response to phototherapy NB-UVB combined with topical corticosteroids.