Clinical characteristics and long-term outcomes of 97 Korean patients with mycosis fungoides

Background Mycosis fungoides (MF) shows racial and regional differences in terms of clinical features. The availability of therapeutic options as well as drugs differs from one country to another. There are only limited data on the clinical characteristics and treatment experience of MF from South Korea. Methods Medical records of 97 patients with MF were retrospectively analyzed to investigate clinical features, survivals, and prognostic factors. Assessment of prognostic variables was done using univariate Cox proportional hazard models. Results Median age at time of diagnosis was 45 years. The median time from onset of skin lesion to diagnosis of MF was 36 months with a median follow-up period of 96 months. A number of clinical variants of MF were observed. Treatment mainly consisted of narrow-band UVB, systemic retinoids, methotrexate, chemotherapy, and regional radiotherapy. Complete remission was observed in 78% of patients with records on their clinical course. About 12% experienced disease progression. No clinical prognostic factor apart from TNM staging was identified. Conclusion Despite delay in diagnosis, most cases of MF in Korea were diagnosed in early stages. Prognosis of our patients was more favorable than those of other geographic regions as reported in previous studies. Good response to treatment, consisting mainly of phototherapy and radiation therapy, and relatively indolent clinical behavior of disease were observed in this homogeneous cohort of Korean patients with MF.