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DiscussionPrimary cutaneous marginal zone B-cell lymphoma (PCMZL)
Blood Cancers & Disorders | Last Active: May 6 1:01pm | Replies (18)Comment receiving replies
Replies to "Hi!! 1. What did the patches of skin look like? Scaly white skin or pink or..."
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They’ve all been more pink/red. Most of them look like skin blemishes/small pimples? So we were never alarmed by them. The larger one on his forearm did look more like psoriasis or like a fungal patch. His primary pointed it out at his yearly physical and prescribed a steroid cream and a antifungal cream which ultimately made it angry and it flared up and grew more puffy and red and bumpy which alarmed us so we made an appt with a dermatologist. They’ve never bothered him though. And we’re not sure what the cause is.
We’re working closely with both an oncologist and a dermatologist that work together treating cutaneous lymphoma in their clinic at UCI. They both have provided us with those options.
He did have a PET/CT last month - all was clear. He had blood work done as well - all was good, I’m sure they will take blood again in the future, but haven’t discussed a timeline.
Intralesional steroid injections are steroids that they inject directly into the skin lesions to shrink them.
IV rituximab is a immunotherapy drug that they administer intravenously at the infusion center. It would be 4 weekly infusions for a month. This medication specifically targets a protein on the abnormal b cells and kills them. However, the downside of this medication is that it also kills the “normal” B cells so he would be immunocompromised for 6 months to a year after the last dose. Doctors are offering this as an option because he has multiple spots on his skin.
If it was just one spot like yours, excision or laser radiation to the spot would have been an option.
I’m hesitant to do the immunotherapy, just because of the side effects and am leaning more towards the steroid injections and then watching and waiting.
We meet with oncologist again in 3 weeks after she presents his case to her co-workers to hear their recommendations as well.
I wish I could upload pictures here to show you.