T-cell Dyscrasias in Dermatopathology

Abstract

Recently, the term "T-cell dyscrasia" has been introduced into the literature of dermatology and dermatopathology. We review the historical background of the term dyscrasia and assess its definition and usage of it in hematopathology and dermatopathology. We learned that the term dyscrasia in the past was associated with meanings very different from one another and that no clear definition and no lucid concept of dyscrasia can be found anywhere in the literature of dermatology and dermatopathology. We conclude that the term dyscrasia in dermatopathology is used mainly to evade problems in interpretation of laboratory findings of a dominant T-cell clone, especially in the circumstance in which a treating physician fails to integrate molecular pathologic data with clinical features and histopathologic findings. Therefore, we suggest that the term lymphomatoid dyscrasia should be abandoned.