Incidence and clinicopathological features of Follicular T-cell lymphoma in Finland: a population-based immunohistochemical study

Follicular T-cell lymphoma (FTCL) is a rare subtype of mature T-cell lymphoma. It was recently recognized as a separate lymphoma entity in the 2017 revised fourth edition of the World Health Organization classification. The main goals of the present study were to gain better knowledge of the incidence and histopathological and clinical features of FTCL in Finland. In this study, we reviewed all angioimmunoblastic T-cell (AITL) and peripheral T-cell lymphomas, not otherwise specified, from the patient records in three hospital districts in Finland over a 10-year period, to identify FTCL cases and estimate its incidence. Five patients rediagnosed with FTCL and 34 with AITL were analyzed. Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg (HRS)-like cells were observed in 24 of the 34 AITL cases and four of the five FTCL cases. We found that the main features that differentiated FTCL from AITL were rosetting of T-cells around HRS-like cells, the absence of clear cells, follicular dendritic cell meshwork and T-cell monoclonality. Our estimated incidence of FTCL is 0.20 per 100,000 people in Finland. •The incidence of FTCL in Finland.•The differential diagnosis between FTCL and AITL.•Some FTCL cases can be identified with reclassification from AITL and PTCL-NOS diagnostic categories.•T-cell clonality differentiates FTCL from AITL.•The clinical disease presentation of FTCL and AITL seem similar.