Initial cutaneous manifestation of lymphomas in children

Cutaneous lymphomas comprise a heterogeneous group of lymphoproliferative disorders with skin involvement and are classified as a subgroup of non-Hodgkin lymphomas. From 1981 to 2007, 100 children with non-Hodgkin lymphomas were admitted to the Hematology Unit of the Federal University of Minas Gerais Teaching Hospital. In nine of these children, the skin was involved at the onset of the disease. Three patients were classified as having primary cutaneous lymphoma, while in six the disease was systemic with cutaneous involvement. In seven patients, the immunophenotype was T-cell, in one it was B-cell, and in the remaining case the immunophenotype was indefinable. No deaths occurred in any of the children with primary cutaneous lymphoma.