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Younger patients with mycosis fungoides, sézary syndrome have more favorable outcomes

Despite a having an increased risk for second primary cancers, young patients diagnosed with mycosis fungoides and sézary syndrome have a high survival rate, researchers found.

Researchers completed a retrospective study of two population-based cancer registries, the California Cancer Registry (n = 204) and nine U.S. cancer registries of the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program (SEER 9; n = 195), to evaluated patients diagnosed with mycosis fungoides (MF) and sézary syndrome (SS) before age 30.

Although the incidence of MF/SS is rare in those aged younger than 30, the survival rate is high, according to researchers. In the California Cancer Registry, patients at 10 years had an overall survival rate of 94.3%, and in SEER 9, patients had an 88.9% survival.

The incidence rate was highest among African-Americans and was similar for males and females, according to the study. Median age at diagnosis was 24 years.

Among the patients in the SEER 9 registry, the researchers found a significant excess risk of all types of second cancers combined — in particular, lymphoma and melanoma. The patients in the California Cancer Registry had similar risk rates compared with SEER 9; however, this was not statistically significant, according to the researchers.

“Continual monitoring of young patients over time can help to determine whether this excess risk persists throughout life and is due to increased medical surveillance, long-term treatment or underlying disease processes,” the researchers wrote.

Disclosure: The authors have no relevant financial disclosures.