CUTANEOUS LYMPHOMAS OCCURRING IN HIV-INFE CTION - 8 CASES

Introduction. Cutaneous lymphomas occurring in HIV infection are a rar e disease. Most of them are high grade lymphomas with fulminant course and poor prognosis. Objective. Evaluate clinical and histological asp ects as well as immunophenotype and evolution of these lymphomas. Pati ents and methods. Eight patients with HIV infection were studied betwe en 1992 and 1994. The clinical and histological features were reviewed by the members of the French Study Group for Cutaneous Lymphomas. Sta ging procedures for lymphomas were performed in 7/8 patients. Results. Seven non epidermotropic lymphomas and one mycosis fungoides were rev iewed. Patients were male (6 cases) and female (2 cases); their mean a ge was 45 years (27-63). The mean level of CD4 T cells/mm(3) was 141 ( 20-380). Only one patient presented with extracutaneous lesions. These lesions were similar to seronegative patients, but unusual features w ere observed in two cases. Histological classification showed high gra de lymphomas in 6/8 cases. The immunophenotype was: T-cell lymphoma in 4 cases, B-cell lymphoma in 3 cases; it could not be determinated in one case. Six patients died. The median of survival is 8 months in thi s series. Discussion. Our series confirms the predominance of high gra de lymphomas presenting in the skin. The T-cell phenotype is more freq uent. The onset of a cutaneous lymphoma has a poor prognosis in HIV in fection. Most of our patients had localised disease at presentation. T herapeutic management of these lymphomas must be codified.