mycosis fungoides
Meaning of mycosis fungoides: Despite a name suggesting fungal origin, mycosis fungoides is the most common form of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a cancer of white blood cells.
Definition of mycosis fungoides
Mycosis fungoides is the most common form of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, a cancer that begins in T lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell, and primarily affects the skin. Its name is misleading, since it is not caused by a fungus, the name instead reflects the mushroom-like appearance that advanced skin tumors can develop, an observation made by early physicians describing the disease.
The disease typically progresses slowly over years, often beginning as scaly, discolored patches or thickened plaques on the skin that can be mistaken for eczema or another common skin condition before a biopsy identifies the abnormal lymphocytes responsible.
In more advanced stages, mycosis fungoides can progress from skin patches to raised tumors and, less commonly, spread beyond the skin to lymph nodes or internal organs such as the spleen, liver, or lungs, which generally marks a more advanced and harder to manage stage of the disease.
Used in a sentence
A skin biopsy of the persistent scaly patch confirmed a diagnosis of mycosis fungoides.
Good to know
Despite its name, mycosis fungoides is a lymphoma, a cancer of white blood cells, and not a fungal skin infection, a distinction the name itself does not make clear.
Word origin
Where “mycosis fungoides” comes from
Formed from Greek mykes, meaning fungus, and the suffix -osis, denoting a condition, combined with Latin fungus and the suffix -oides, from Greek -oeides, meaning resembling, together describing a fungus-like appearance rather than an actual fungal cause.