Histopathological Evaluation of Patients with Mycosis Fungoides before and after Phototherapy.

Background and Objectives: Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common type of cutaneous lymphoma accompanied by neoplastic T cells. Histopathological changes after phototherapy could be an effective index for evaluation of treatment. The aim of this study was to compare histomorphological changes in Iranian MF patients before and after phototherapy. Methods: Skin biopsies of 20 diagnosed MF patients in Razi dermatology Hospital of Tehran University of Medical Sciences were evaluated based on major and minor diagnostic criteria using Guitart classification to assess histological features of phototherapy. Result: Of 20 studied patients eight patients were man and 12 were woman. Following phototherapy, major histologic criteria including density of infiltrate, epidermotropism and lymphocytic atypia along with some minor histologic criteria such as lymphocytic infiltrate and intraepidermal atypical lymphocytes were significantly alleviated after treatment (p < 0.05). Conclusion: We find a significant decrease in some important histologic parameter of MF after phototherapy, indicating these features may be important diagnostic parameters evaluating therapeutic effect of phototherapy.

Comparison of seropositivity of human T lymphotropic virus type 1 in mycosis fungoides patients and normal volunteers: A case-control study and review of literature.

Background: There have been controversial reports about the possible association between mycosis fungoides (MF), its leukemic variant Sιzary syndrome (SS) and human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) in different geographical regions. Aims: The purpose of this study was to explore any association between MF and presence of HTLV-1 infection in Iran. Methods: In a case-control setting, 150 clinically and histopathologically proven MF patients had been admitted to the tertiary referral skin center during a 10-year period and another 150 normal volunteers had been compared with each other for the presence of HTLV-1 infection. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect antibodies against HTLV-1, and positive results were confirmed with western blotting. Results: Only three MF patients had HTLV-1 infection, whereas two cases of normal subjects had the infection ( P > 0.05). The only three seropositive MF patients were male and from North-Eastern Iran . Conclusion: This study showed that MF does not correlate with HTLV-1 infection in Iran.