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primary cutaneous CD4+ small/medium-sized pleomorphic T-cell lymphoma
Monday 18 January 2010
Patients with skin nodules characterized by the infiltrate of pleomorphic small/medium T lymphocytes are currently classified as "primary cutaneous CD4+ small-/medium-sized pleomorphic T-cell lymphoma" (SMPTCL) or as T-cell pseudolymphoma. The distinction is often arbitrary, and patients with similar clinicopathologic features have been included in both groups.
The incongruity between the indolent clinical course and the worrying histopathologic and molecular features poses difficulties in classifying these cases unambiguously as benign or malignant, and it may be better to refer to them with a descriptive term such as "cutaneous nodular proliferation of pleomorphic T lymphocytes of undetermined significance," rather than forcing them into one or the other category. (19461234)
On the other hand, irrespective of the name given to these equivocal cutaneous lymphoid proliferations, published data support a nonaggressive therapeutic strategy, particularly for patients presenting with solitary lesions. (19461234)
references
Primary cutaneous CD4+ small-/medium-sized pleomorphic T-cell lymphoma: a cutaneous nodular proliferation of pleomorphic T lymphocytes of undetermined significance? A study of 136 cases. Beltraminelli H, Leinweber B, Kerl H, Cerroni L. Am J Dermatopathol. 2009 Jun;31(4):317-22. PMID: 19461234
