title: Diffuse intermediate lymphocytic lymphoma. A clinicopathologic study and comparison with small lymphocytic lymphoma and diffuse small cleaved cell lymphoma.
abstract: Controversy has recently arisen as to whether diffuse intermediate lymphocytic lymphoma (ILL) should be considered a low-grade or an intermediate-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma for clinical purposes. Therefore, the authors performed a clinicopathologic study to determine the biologic course of diffuse ILL (40 cases) and compared it with small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL; 51 cases) and diffuse small cleaved cell lymphoma (DSCCL; 14 cases). They found that patients with diffuse ILL having pseudofollicular proliferation centers (PC) had a significantly longer median survival (84 months) than those without PC (46.5 months; P = 0.03). The median survival of patients with SLL was 72 months, whereas those with DSCCL had a median survival of only 18 months. Based on these findings, the authors conclude that diffuse ILL with PC should be included in the low-grade category of SLL for clinical purposes, whereas diffuse ILL without PC (true diffuse ILL) should be considered an intermediate-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. True diffuse ILL is similar to centrocytic lymphoma in the Kiel classification and should be accorded a similar status in a modified Working Formulation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Microbiology, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha 68198.
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Bast
authors.forename: J O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Armitage
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Weisenburger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015451:Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012737:Sex Factors