Blastic CD56+ natural killer-cell lymphoma with primary cutaneous manifestation

T/natural killer-cell lymphomas belong to a heterogeneous group of non-Hodgkin lymphomas with predominant extranodal, often cutaneous, manifestations. In contrast to B- and T-cell lymphomas, T/NK-cell lymphomas were only recently regarded as a distinct entity. These rather aggressive malignancies arise from cytotoxic T cells, NK-cells or NK-like T cells, which share several phenotypic and functional properties. We report a man with a blastic NK-cell lymphoma with nodular skin infiltrations as the leading clinical manifestation of the disease. Complicated of tuberculosis, the patient died within 9 months of diagnosis, despite aggressive polychemotherapy.