Varied presentations of primary cutaneous lymphoma: A case series from a tertiary care center in South India.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies indicate an upsurge of primary cutaneous lymphoma (PCL) in the Indian population. Of late, we too have come across varied presentations of PCL in relatively younger individuals. Hence, we decided to study the clinical and immunohistological profile of patients with PCL in our department.

METHODS: All cases diagnosed as PCL from October 2016 to October 2019 were included. Clinical details, complete blood count, peripheral smear, imaging, histopathology, and immunohistochemistry of skin specimens were analyzed. Lymph node biopsy and bone marrow studies were done in most cases. Human T lymphotropic virus-1 (HTLV1) serology was done in 10 cases.

RESULTS: Of the 24 patients with PCL, 12 were below 50 years of age. Twenty-three patients (95.8%) had T-cell lymphoma and only one had B-cell PCL. Mycosis fungoides (MF) (n = 17; 71%) was the most common type of PCL. There were two (8.3%) cases each of adult T-cell lymphoma/leukemia (ATLL) and Sezary syndrome. MF had varied clinical morphology at presentation and variable clinical outcomes. Both cases of ATLL had features of immunosuppression in the form of infective dermatoses.

CONCLUSION: We observed an increased proportion of T-cell type of PCL, with the age of onset being relatively early. HTLV-1 positivity was noted in three out of the 10 cases tested. More studies are needed to determine the factors responsible for the younger age of onset of PCL and the role of HTLV-1 infection in the development of PCL.