Brief Overview about Mycosis Fungoides: Epidemiology, Types and Diagnosis

mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common type of cutaneous lymphoma, representing almost 50% of all lymphomas arising primarily in the skin. It is defined as an epidermotropic, primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) composed of small- to medium-sized T lymphocytes with cerebriform nuclei and with a T-helper phenotype (but cytotoxic variants are not uncommon). MF presents with localised cutaneous patches and/or plaques in the early stages, low level nodal or blood involvement may occur. Erythroderma, systemic involvement (severe nodal/blood involvement or visceral involvement), and skin tumors are examples of advanced stages. Two-thirds of patients present with early stage MF (IA-IIA), with survival rates frequently exceeding ten years, however because of the lack of curative therapies, patients have a poor quality of life due to painful, itchy, and disfiguring lesions. A 25% of early stage patients will develop advanced stage disease, which has a poor prognosis and a median survival of three years.