Summary
Skin lesions as the initial presentation is a rare occurrence in Extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma. Hence, clinicians should be alert to skin involvement in extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma as early diagnosis is critical.
Original Article
Primary cutaneous NK/T cell lymphoma. A case report
Medicine Case Reports and Study Protocols
Zhu, Shihao MD; Liu, Zhijie MD; Jia, Xuesong MD
Abstract
Introduction:
Extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma (nasal type) most commonly affects the nasal cavity and nasopharynx, followed by the skin. Epidermal mass as the first manifestation is rare, and they appear as multiple red and purple patches, often accompanied by ulcers.
Patient concerns:
The patient is a 79-year-old male with no significant medical history. The patient reported with erythema and nodules on his right forearm for a duration of one month.
Diagnosis:
According to the patient's clinical manifestations, histopathological examination of the skin lesions, and immunohistochemical results, the diagnosis was cutaneous extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma.
Interventions and outcomes:
The patient was first treated with one week of anti-infection and anti-inflammatory drugs but the size of the skin nodules became larger, with involvement of the surrounding normal skin. Hence, tumor resection and skin grafting were performed. The patient refused to receive further radiotherapy and chemotherapy. After being discharged from the hospital, the patient passed away one week later.
Conclusion:
Skin lesions as the initial presentation is a rare occurrence in Extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma. Hence, clinicians should be alert to skin involvement in extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma as early diagnosis is critical.
Author contributions
Conceptualization, Investigation, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Visualization, Writing-original draft, Writing-review & editing projects - Shihao Zhu.
Visualization, Writing-original draft, Writing-review & editing completely independently - Zhijie Liu.
Xuesong Jia - guiding and supervising role for this article.