Pediatric Primary Cutaneous Lymphoma in China: A Retrospective Study

The incidence and clinical features of primary cutaneous lymphoma (PCL) tend to differ by age, gender, geographical, and racial variation. All-aged and adult groups of PCL in various regions have been well demonstrated and compared, while the research concentrating on pediatric PCL is rare, especially in Asian countries.

The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical characteristics of PCL in pediatric population at a single center in China.

We conducted a retrospective study of 101 pediatric cases with PCL, diagnosed at the Institute of Dermatology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, from January 2010 to December 2021.

Mycosis fungoides (MF), accounting for 41.6% of the total cases, was the most common subtype in pediatric PCL, and the hypopigmented MF accounted for 47.6% of all the MF cases. Lymphomatoid papulosis and chronic active Epstein-Barr virus infection tied for second place with a proportion of 22.8%. Primary cutaneous anaplastic large cell lymphoma, subcutaneous panniculitis-like T-cell lymphoma, primary cutaneous peripheral T-cell lymphoma, rare subtypes and primary cutaneous B-cell lymphoma, respectively, accounted for 2.0%, 4.0%, 4.0%, and 3.0%. Most patients had favorable prognosis during the follow-up.

The study suggested that MF was the most common subtype in pediatric PCL in China, and most types of pediatric PCL had favorable prognosis.