Clinical and epidemiological profile of libyan patients with mycosis fungoides: A prospective study

Abstract

Background: Mycosis fungoides (MF) represents the most common form of primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) often with an indolent course. Purpose: The objective is to determine epidemiological and clinical features of MF among Libyan patients. Methods: Clinical and histopathological evaluation was carried out in 24 patients with MF in the Department of Dermatology at El-Jumhoria Hospital in Benghazi city between 2010 and 2019. Results: Twenty-four patients with a diagnosis of MF, 11 were female and 13 were male. Age of the patients ranged between 30 and 60 year with a mean of age ± standard deviation of 47.4 ± 8 years. Clinical presentation with patches and plaques was most common, seen in 58.3% of the patients. Poikilodermatous MF was seen in 37.5% patients, hypopigmented MF seen in 12.5% of patients, follicular MF seen in 8.3% of patients, and 8.3% patients had lymphomatoid papulosis. Pruritis was the complaint of 75% of the patients. About 25% of the patients had blood eosinophilia, 33.3% had raised lactic dehydrogenase enzyme. Tumor-node-metastasis-blood (TNMB) classification of the patients revealed that 66.7% had stage IB, 20.8% of patients had stage IIA, 8.3% of patients had stage IIB, and 4.2% patients had stage IVa. About 70.8% of patients received systemic Psoralen and ultraviolet A (PUVA) therapy, 20.8% patients received narrow band ultraviolet B, 4.2% patients treated with radiotherapy, and 4.2% patients received both chemotherapy and radiotherapy. About 45.8% of patients show remission of their disease, 12.5% patients show no response, 8.3% of patients still under treatment, 25% of patients lost follow-up, and 8.3% patients died. Conclusion: MF is a low-grade primary CTCL with different clinical presentations with variable response to therapy.