Malignant diseases of T lymphocytes in adults are uncommon. Special difficulties arise both in establishing a diagnosis and in therapy. We describe our experience with 20 patients admitted to the Nehru Hospital, Chandigarh between 1980 and 1989. They had mycosis fungoides (8), Lennert's lymphoma (3), lymphoblastic lymphoma (8) and human T Iymphotrophic virus 1 related adult T cell lymphoma (1). All patients had advanced disease at the time of presentation and were prescribed chemotherapeutic regimens which they could afford. Their outcome was poor; most patients died within a year of first being seen. Treatment of patients with T cell lymphomas in India is hampered by the late presentation of patients and the cost of the newer, more effective chemotherapeutic regimens.