Mycoses fungoides lymphoma is a T cell (a type of white blood cell) lymphoma of the skin which often masquerades for many years as a patchy or plaque like reddish and scaling rash – especially in the pelvic girdle area of the body before it metastasizes (spreads inward) to blood, lymph nodes, and visceral (internal body) sites.
Since it often appears like eczema or psoriasis and can have an itch component, the average time from onset to diagnosis is 7 years. And, it may be misdiagnosed as psoriasis, eczema, or even fungus. A key to diagnosis is its unresponsiveness to conventional therapy of the aforementioned skin diseases . A skin biopsy is warranted in such instances and confirms the medical provider's clinical suspicions.
Treatment options are varied depending on the stage of the disease and include ultraviolet A light and a medicine taken internally called psoralen (P –UVA), and topical nitrogen mustard for early stages.
More advanced stages are treated with radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and even stem- cell – bone marrow transplantation.
A procedure call extracorporeal photophoresis has even been utilized in which one's blood is treated with a photo- sensitizing agent such as 8 – methoxy psoralen and then run through a machine where it is then irradiated with a specific wavelength of ultraviolet A light and then returned to the patient where the irradiated T cells now have an antitumor action.
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