A review of survival in mycosis fungoides.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this study are to review prior publications of survival for patients with mycosis fungoides (MF), to perform some analyses on the consolidated data, and then to consider the implications of the results.

METHODS

The data for this study comprise 18 survival curves derived from seven prior publications of long-term survival in relatively large series of patients with MF. Altogether, the study uses results from over 5,000 patients. To examine fatality, the study uses hazard functions derived from the survival curves.

RESULTS

The analyses demonstrate significant variability in survival between different groups who have studied MF, and the results document that for most patients the diagnosis of MF has little impact on fatality.

CONCLUSIONS

Although MF is considered a cutaneous lymphoma, that is, a malignancy, it may be time to reconsider low stages of MF as precursors to malignancy analogous to the precursors to malignancies of other types or organs.