Kaposi's varicelliform eruption in a patient with mycosis fungoides

A 39-year-old Japanese woman suffering from plaque stage of mycosis fungoides (MF) developed Kaposi's varicelliform eruption (KVE) on her face. KVE appeared 1 month after commencing skin electron beam irradiation (SEBI), when the total irradiation had reached 46 Gy. Natural killer (NK) cell activity in the peripheral blood was abnormally low, but returned to normal after 1 year. However, lymphocyte reactivity to mitogens was persistently low. These facts suggested that the KVE in our patient developed because of abnormally low NK cell reactivity probably induced by radiation therapy.