Mycosis fungoides: clinical and therapeutic review.

Mycosis fungoides is a cutaneously-derived malignant lymphoma which, without effective treatment, may run an unrelenting, rapidly lethal course. Often beginning as a nonspecific skin eruption, easily misdiagnosed as a common eczema or psoriasis, the disease progresses through a plaque stage to the tumor stage with the appearance of the mushroom-like growths for which the entity was originally named. Because of the dismal outlook in uncontrolled cases, newer, more aggressive approaches to therapy are being developed and are being instituted earlier in the course of the disease.