A Clinical and Histopathological Study of 17 Cases of Cutaneous Pseudolymphoma

Lee, Do Hyun; Jung, Kyoung Eun; Kim, Hei Sung; Lee, Jun Young; Kim, Hyung Ok; Park, Young Min

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Although it is important to be aware of the clinicopathological features of pseudolymphoma of the skin to avoid misdiagnosis, there are few comprehensive studies on this disease entity in the Korean dermatologic literature.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the clinical and histopathological features of pseudolymphoma.
METHODS
We reviewed the medical records, photographs and histopathological slides of 17 patients, who had been diagnosed with cutaneous pseudolymphoma, between March 2001 and August 2011.
RESULTS
The ratio of males to females was 1:3.3, and the mean age of onset was 47.8 years old. Ten patients (59%) had no symptom and the most commonly involved site was the head and neck (59%). Ten patients (59%) had a solitary lesion. Nobody had a family history or past history of pseudolymphoma or lymphoma. Of the 17 cases, 16 (94%) were idiopathic. The common microscopic feature of pseudolymphoma was diffuse and dense lymphocytic infiltration in the reticular dermis. In the immunohistochemical staining of 15 cases (88%), the infiltrating cells were positive for both B cell and T cell marker. The treatment included intralesional steroid injection, systemic steroids and excision. An average follow-up period was 38.4 months (from 2 to 107 months) for 13 patients. During this period, no recurrence or malignant transformation was observed in these patients.
CONCLUSION
Our findings demonstrate that cutaneous pseudolymphoma is most common in middle-aged female, and it has a good response to steroid treatment or simple excision, without malignant transformation.