Infections complicating mycosis fungoides and Sezary Syndrome
Article Abstract:
Patients with advanced mycosis fungoides or Sezary Syndrome may have a higher risk of acquiring bacterial skin infections or other infections in the hospital than those in the early stages of these diseases. Mycosis fungoides and Sezary Syndrome are cancers of the immune system that involve the skin. A study of 356 patients with mycosis fungoides or Sezary Syndrome found that 478 infections occurred in these individuals after diagnosis. Bacterial infections of the skin were the most common type of infection, followed by viral infections of the skin, bacterial infections of the blood, bacterial pneumonia and urinary tract infections. Eighty-eight percent of the patients who died from an infection had a bacterial infection of the blood or bacterial pneumonia. Most of the patients who died of infection developed the infection in the hospital. Patients with cancer that had spread from the skin to other parts of the body had higher risk of recurrent bacterial and viral infections and death than those with cancer localized in the skin.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1992
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Reversible neurologic toxicity in patients treated with standard-dose fludarabine phosphate for mycosis fungoides and chronic lymphocytic leukemia
Article Abstract:
Treatment with a standard dosage of fludarabine may cause reversible neurotoxicity in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia or mycosis fungoides, a type of lymphoma that arises in the skin. Neurological symptoms caused by fludarabine include vision loss, auditory hallucinations, an abnormal gait, lethargy and tremor. A 46-year-old man with mycosis fungoides suffered a seizure and developed weakness in his right leg after undergoing treatment with fludarabine. He had also been undergoing treatment with alpha interferon and radiation therapy. A 64-year-old woman who was treated with fludarabine developed neurological symptoms after undergoing general anesthesia. The neurotoxicity reversed in both patients after treatment with fludarabine was discontinued. The risk of neurotoxicity at a standard dosage of fludarabine may be increased when it is combined with other types of treatment such as alpha interferon, radiation therapy or general anesthesia.
Publication Name: Annals of Internal Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0003-4819
Year: 1993
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