[Skin symptoms in malignant hemopathies]

To investigate specific and non-specific skin lesions in malignant hemopathies.

The study enrolled 862 patients (394 females and 468 males) with hematological malignancies treated in the hematological clinic from 1990 to 1998. The patients were divided into three groups according to the primary disorder: lymphoproliferative processes (541 patients), myeloproliferative processes (296 patients) and bone marrow hypoplasia (25 patients).

The non-specific skin lesions showed high variability in morphology, location. Combinations of different lesions were also present. Specific lesions were less variable and more characteristic for lymphoproliferative processes. Skin lesions (specific or non-specific) were not found related to a particular disease.

Skin lesions in oncohematological disorders appear in great variability. They are essential for diagnosis and may appear a single initial diagnostic marker in these conditions.