Review of the treatment of mycosis fungoides and Sézary syndrome: A stage-based approach

Mycosis fungoides (MF) and Sézary Syndrome (SS) are the most common subtypes of cutaneous T-cell lymphomas. Most of patients have indolent and incurable course of disease. Therefore, treatment should be reaching the optimal benefit with minimizing the toxicity as much as possible. To achieve this aim, the management should follow a -stage-based- approach. Treatment of early-stage MF (IA-IIA) involves skin-directed therapy (SDT) including topical corticosteroids, phototherapy, topical chemotherapy, topical retinoids and radiotherapy. For aggressive/recalcitrant early-stage MF or advanced-stage MF, systemic therapy should be considered including interferone-alpha, oral retinoids including bexarotine and more recently acitretin, histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi), fusion toxin denileukin diftitox and chemotherapy drugs. Combined drug regimens can be considered in some situations to get the synergistic effect while lowering the individual drug's doses on the other hand. By exception of aggressive stages, chemotherapy should always come after other systemic drugs have been tried or contraindicated. Novel drugs should be considered in situations when all systemic drugs have failed.