Characteristics of Primary Cutaneous Lymphoma in Italy: A Tertiary Care, Single-Center Study

Abstract

Data on primary cutaneous lymphomas (PCLs) patients in the Italian population are limited, and, despite the existence of several treatment options, the management of those patients remains challenging. Our study aimed to investigate the clinical and therapeutic features of PCL patients in a referral center in Italy. We conducted a retrospective study on 100 consecutive PCL patients between January 2017 and December 2022. The mean (SD) age of our cohort was 70.33 (14.14) years. Cutaneous T-cell lymphomas (CTCLs) represented 65% of all cases; the majority were mycosis fungoides (42%), followed by cases of Sezary syndrome (10%) and primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma (4%). Cutaneous B-cell lymphomas (CBCLs) accounted for 35 % of PCLs, with 15 cases of primary cutaneous follicle center lymphoma, 10 cases of primary cutaneous diffuse large B-cell lymphoma leg type, and 9 cases of marginal zone B-cell lymphoma. A higher frequency of pruritus (p = 0.008) and higher peripheral blood levels of beta-2 microglobulin (p ≤ 0.001) and lactate dehydrogenase (p = 0.025) were found in CTCLs compared to those of CBCLs. Considering all therapeutic lines performed, treatments were extremely heterogeneous and skin-directed therapies represented the most frequently used approach. Our study confirms the distribution of PCL subtypes formerly reported in the literature and highlights the utility of real-life data in treatments to improve the current management of PCL patients.