The Incidence of Other Primary Cancers in Patients with Cutaneous Lymphoma

BACKGROUND: Skin cancer is the most common other primary cancer in patients with lymphoma. However, an intriguing association between cutaneous lymphoma and other primary cancers has been suggested in a few studies. OBJECTIVE: This study investigated other primary cancers in patients with cutaneous lymphoma to evaluate the risk for occurrence of each type of cancer. METHODS: We screened for other primary cancers in 428 patients with cutaneous lymphoma. Clinical features were analyzed according to the lineage and origin of the lymphomas. We calculated the standardized incidence ratio with statistical analysis for each group according to age. RESULTS: Among 330 patients with cutaneous T cell lymphoma and 98 with cutaneous B cell lymphoma, a total of 43 cancers in 38 patients were finally included. Other primary cancers were prevalent in patients with cutaneous B cell lymphoma and patients with secondary cutaneous lymphoma. However, those differences were not significant when the age was calibrated by multiple logistic regression. Metachronously higher standardized incidence ratios were observed for primary lung (standardized incidence ratio [SIR], 14.81; 95% confidence interval [CI], 3.05~39.54), skin (SIR, 68.05; 95% CI, 14.03~181.62), and breast (SIR, 12.91; 95% CI, 1.56~41.41) cancers with statistical significance. CONCLUSION: Other primary cancers more preferentially occurred in patients with cutaneous lymphoma. Clinicians should carefully examine patients with cutaneous lymphoma for other cancers, especially lung, skin, and breast cancers.