Favorable Prognosis for Clinical Stage IA Mycosis Fungoides

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Favorable Prognosis for Clinical Stage IA Mycosis Fungoides

Patients with limited patch/plaque stage mycosis fungoides are believed to have a favorable prognosis for long-term survival. These authors report their experience with a population of 122 patients who presented to one institution with stage IA (T1) disease and were followed for a mean of 9.8 years (range, 0.5 to32.5 years).

At 32.5 years of follow-up the median survival had not yet been reached. Survival rates were 96% at 5 years and 88% at 10 years. In patients with T2, T3, and T4 disease, median survival times were 12.1, 2.9, and 3.6 years, respectively. Only 9% of patients with T1 disease had progressive disease, and none progressed to erythroderma. Older patients and those with poorer responses to initial treatment were most likely to experience progression. Only three patients with T1 mycosis fungoides died of the disease. Survival was similar in patients with T1 disease and in a group of age- and sex-matched controls.

Comment: This study contributes important information regarding the clinical course of patients with mycosis fungoides. It shows that long-term survival is not changed in patients with clinical stage IA disease who receive appropriate initial therapy. The risk of disease progression is small and may be predicted by the initial response to treatment. These data will enable clinicians to present an optimistic picture of long-term survival to patients with mycosis fungoides.

— BR Smoller

Published in Journal Watch Dermatology February 1, 1997

Citation(s):

Kim YH et al. Clinical stage 1A (limited patch and plaque) mycosis fungoides. Arch Dermatol 1996 132 1309-1313.

Medline abstract (Free)

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