Prognostic Significance of Serum Lactate Dehydrogenase in Saudi Patients with Mycosis Fungoides: A Retrospective Study of 47 Patients

Background: Mycosis fungoides (MF) is the most common cutaneous T-cell lymphoma and its advanced-stage (MF; stage IIB to IV)) has aggressive behavior. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) has been demonstrated to correlate with progression of malignancy specially lymphoma and leukemia. The LDH level is expected to be useful clinical tool for evaluating the progression of MF. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the pretreatment LDH as a prognostic factor in Saudi patients with Mycosis fungoides. Methods: We designed a retrospective study using biopsy-based data collected from 1997 to 2015 at King Khalid University Hospital. The correlation of LDH levels with clinical stages of Mycosis fungoides was studied. Results: Of the 47 MF patients, there were 25 male and 22 female patients for a male: female ratio of 1.4:1. The mean patient age was 39 years; 87.2% (n=31) had limited stage of MF and 12.8 (n=6) had an advanced stage >IIA. There were 13 patients with a raised LDH at the time of diagnosis. All stage IA patients had normal LDH levels while stage IB, IIA and advanced stage had 20%, 50% and 100% elevated LDH, respectively. Conclusions: Our results suggest that high LDH level may be used as an independent prognostic factor to measure the progression of Mycosis fungoides.