Morphological and functional differentiation and classification of cutaneous lymphomas.

It was the purpose of our studies to achieve reevaluation of the histo- and cytomorphology of cutaneous lymphomas by means of additional enzymecyto-chemical and funtional tests. Skin biopsy specimens from 99 patients with cutaneous lymphomas and pseudolymphomas were stained for HE, Giemsa, PAS, Gormori, several hydrolytic enzymes and peroxidase. In cell suspensions extracted from skin lesions B and T cell differentiation was performed using surface markers. In addition tissue cells were tested for PHA response in suspensions and for intracytoplasmatic Ig on smears. Based on these studies cutaneous lymphomas were filed, within the "Kiel" classification of low grade and high grade malignant lymphomas according to their histological, enzymecytochemical and immunological features. It got evident that B cell and T cell lymphomas of low grade malignancy in the skin both present distinct histological patterns, indicating areas B and T cell microenvironmental specificity.