Mycosis fungoides in Arab children and adolescents: a report of 36 patients from Kuwait.
Mycosis fungoides (MF) is rare in children and adolescents. This study was aimed to determine the clinicoepidemiologic features of juvenile onset (≤18 yrs) MF in Kuwait. Thirty-six children and adolescents (≤18 yrs) with MF registered in a referral photobiology unit for cutaneous lymphomas between July 1991 and June 2009 were included in this study. Children and adolescents were observed to constitute 16.6% of the total number of patients with MF, with 97% of patients of Arab ethnicity. The age-adjusted incidence rate of MF in children and adolescents among the total population was 0.29/100,000 persons/year. Among 36 Arab children and adolescents, boys outnumbered girls by 1.25:1. Mean and median age at onset of disease was 9 years, and age at diagnosis was 13 years. Patch stage disease was the most common clinical variant (75%) with 56% with pure hypopigmented MF-variant. The majority of patients (75%) had stage IB (TNM and B staging) disease. The study highlights a high prevalence and incidence of juvenile MF in Kuwait with a predominantly hypopigmented presentation.
As'ad Al-Hamad Dermatology Center, Al-Sabah Hospital, Kuwait. artinanda@hotmail.com
Arti
A
Nanda
Qasem A
QA
AlSaleh
Hejab
H
Al-Ajmi
Homoud
H
Al-Sabah
Muhammad
M
Elkashlan
Salem
S
Al-Shemmari
Marie-France
MF
Demierre
D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D017668:Age of Onset; D001706:Biopsy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007730:Kuwait / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D009182:Mycosis Fungoides / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology*