Profile of mycosis fungoides in 43 Saudi patients

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Mycosis fungoides (MF) is a rare disease; and to our knowledge, there are no reports on its profile in Arabs. The objective of this study was to preliminarily analyze the clinical characteristics of MF patients seen in our institution. DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective review of 140 patients with pathologic or clinical diagnosis or differential diagnosis of MF for the period 2000–2006. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Pathology reports with diagnosis or differential diagnosis of MF were retrieved and suspected cases were identified and reviewed. For pathologically confirmed cases, sociodemographic, clinical, laboratory, and radiological details were collected. Details of staging, treatment modalities, and disease status at the last follow-up were retrieved. RESULTS: A total of 43 pathologically confirmed MF patients (skin phototypes IV and V) with a mean age at diagnosis of 33.5 years were reviewed. This comprised 29 males (M:F ratio, 2:1), and the majority (86%) of patients had early-stage (I and II) MF. Twenty-one (48.8%) patients had classic MF; 18 (41.8%), hypopigmented MF; and 4 (9.3%), other variants. The male-to-female ratio was higher in the hypopigmented (3.5:1) than in the classic variant (1.6:1). The mean age at diagnosis was lower in the hypopigmented compared to the classic variant (25 versus 38.8 years, P=.019). The mean duration of follow-up was 27.6 months (range, 1–98 months). At the final assessment, 4 (9.5%) patients recovered; whereas 35 (83.3%) had MF skin disease; 1 had (2.4%) extracutaneous disease; and 2 (4.8%) died of MF. CONCLUSIONS: MF tends to affect younger Saudi patients. The hypopigmented variant constitutes a significant proportion of MF cases, especially in younger patients.