Primary cutaneous aggressive epidermotropic CD8+ T cell lymphoma with a chronic and indolent course. Is this different from peripheral T cell lymphoma?

Cutaneous T cell lymphomas most commonly have a CD4+ memory T cell phenotype and exhibit a relatively indolent course, but may in rare cases present with a CD8+ cytotoxic phenotype with a strikingly more aggressive clinical behavior. Primary cutaneous aggressive epidermotropic CD8+ T cell lymphoma is an extremely rare entity with distinct clinicopatological features. The clinical features and prognosis of the recently-described CD8+ peripheral lymphoma are very different from cytotoxic CD8+ epidermotropic lymphoma, but the histological and phenotypic characteristics are very similar. We report a new case of CD8+ epidermotropic lymphoma with a chronic course and suggest the possibility of an overlap between these two types of lymphoma.