This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Early plaque-stage folliculotropic mycosis fungoides has similar survival to patches, follicular papules

Patients with histologically early plaque-stage folliculotropic mycosis fungoides had similar overall survival to patients with patches or follicular papules, and patients with advanced plaque-stage disease had similar overall survival to patients with tumors, according to recent data.

“Apart from patients presenting with only patches and/or follicular papules, this group also contains patients with plaques histologically characterized by sparse intrafollicular and/or perifollicular infiltrates containing relatively few and mainly small neoplastic T cells,” Suzanne van Santen, MD, from the department of dermatology at the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, and colleagues wrote. “Distinction between patients with indolent and aggressive [folliculotropic mycosis fungoides] is important because it may have therapeutic consequences.”

Van Santen and colleagues evaluated 203 patients in the Dutch Cutaneous Lymphoma Registry who had folliculotropic mycosis fungoides (FMF). The researchers assessed clinical and histological characteristics distinguishing patients with early plaque-stage FMF and advanced plaque-stage FMF. The patients included 147 men and 56 women with a median age of 59 years.

There was an overall 10-year survival rate of 71% in the early plaque-stage FMF group compared to a rate of 80% in the patches and follicular papules group. Patients with histologically advanced plaque-stage FMF had a 10-year overall survival rate of 25% compared to an overall survival rate of 27% for patients with tumors.

The researchers identified three clinical subgroups with different survival data. Patients with early skin-limited FMF (n=84) had an overall survival of 92% at 5 years and 72% at 10 years. Patients with advanced skin-limited FMF (n=102) had an overall survival of 55% at 5 years and 28% at 10 years. The patients with advanced cutaneous disease (n=17) had an overall survival at 5 years of 23% and 2% at 10 years. Van Santen and colleagues noted factors that influenced overall survival included diagnosis age, secondary bacterial infection and large cell transformation, according to the abstract. – by Jeff Craven

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.