Cutaneous Lymphomas: from Morphology to Chip Technology

Cutaneous lymphomas represent a heterogenous group of malignant lymphoid diseases with particular tropism for the skin. Prognosis and treatment depend on the type of lymphoma, thus precise diagnosis and classification are of paramount importance. Classification of cutaneous lymphomas relies on a synthesis of all available information, including clinical history and presentation, histopathology, immunophenotype, and molecular data. Thanks to the efforts of the lymphoma groups of both the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), a joint WHO-EORTC classification for primary cutaneous lymphomas has been proposed in 2005. The WHO-EORTC classification has been adsorbed with minor changes in the 2008 WHO classification of tumours of haematopoietic and lymphoid tissues, thus including for the first time primary cutaneous lymphomas as distinct subtypes of extranodal lymphomas in a general classification of lymphomas.