Survival and Prognostic Factors in Patients with Aggressive Cutaneous T-cell Lymphomas

Aggressive primary cutaneous T-cell lymphomas include advanced-stage mycosis fungoides (stage ≥ IIB mycosis fungoides), Sézary syndrome, gamma/delta cutaneous lymphoma, nasal type lymphoma, aggressive epidermotropic CD8+ T-cell lymphoma and some cutaneous lymphomas not otherwise specified. To evaluate their long-term prognosis, we conducted a retrospective cohort study of 85 patients diagnosed between 2005 and 2020 with advanced-stage mycosis fungoides (n = 48), Sézary syndrome (n = 28) or aggressive non-mycosis fungoides/Sézary syndrome subtypes (n = 9). The median survival times in these 3 groups were 118.7, 45.7 and 11.2 months, respectively, and the 5-year survival rates were 55.3%, 27.8% and 33.3%, respectively. Multivariate analyses in patients with mycosis fungoides/Sézary syndrome identified age ≥ 70 years, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status ≥ 2, and the high-risk group according to the Cutaneous Lymphoma International Consortium prognostic model, as adverse prognostic factors. Seven patients in this mycosis fungoides/Sézary syndrome group were in complete long-term remission after treatment with bexarotene, including 4 patients living without any treatment for 16–101 months.