Abstract

Mycosis fungoides (Alibert-Bazin-type) is an indolent disorder, in which main organ involved is a skin. Early lesions of mycosis fungoides show somewhat characteristic features, such as variation in size, shape and color, an erythematous plaque and lesion location (trunk, buttock and thigh) . The tumor cells of mycosis fungoides, small and medium-sized cells with cerebriform nuclei, are detected in an epidermo-dermo junction. But it is difficult to find the tumor cells in dermal infiltrating cells. Although Pautrier's microabscess is a diagnostic pathological feature in mycosis fungoides, it is not always found in the early lesions of mycosis fungoides. If a patient is thought to have mycosis fungoides by clinical features, the patient can be followed for a long time, even though tumor cells could not be found by microscopy.
Cutaneous B cell lymphoma can be diagnosed using a molecular biological assay.
T/NK cell lymphoma of the skin is a quiet rate lymphoma and sometimes confused with a benign skin disorder, such as lichen planus and plasmacytosis by clinical features. The tumor cells of T/NK cell lymphoma is not a granular lymphocyte, and do not express T-cell antigens such as CD2, CD3, CD5, CD43 and CD45RO and B-cell antigens such as CD19, CD20 and CD22. They only show CD56 on the cell surface.