Low-grade lymphoma: clinical and prognostic studies in a series of 143 patients from a single institution.
Clinical and prognostic studies were carried out in a series of 143 patients with low-grade (small-lymphocytic, follicular small cleaved cell, follicular mixed small- and large-cell) lymphoma. After treatment with alkylating agents (21.5% cases), combination chemotherapy (73.3%) or other therapies (5.2%), complete response (CR) was obtained in 40.7% of cases and partial response (PR) in 43.7%. The stage of the disease was the most important factor for response. With a median follow-up of 6.5 years, 48.0% (95% Cl: 37.5-58.5) of patients were alive 10 years after diagnosis. Among the initial parameters, advanced stage. B-symptoms, poor performance status, nodal involvement > 3 sites, extranodal involvement > or = 2 sites, WBC count > or = 10 x 10(9)/L, leukemic expression, high serum LDH levels, and bone marrow infiltration were all related to survival; treatment modality, however, had no influence on survival. In the multivariate analysis, stage (p = 0.008) and age (p = 0.053) were the most important prognostic factors. When considering response to therapy, both CR (p < 0.001) and PR (p = 0.003) emerged as the most important predictive variables, with only the absence of B-symptoms retaining its prognostic significance (p = 0.014) among the other parameters. In addition, in CR patients the duration of the response (< or = 1 year vs. > 1 year) was the most significant parameter for survival (p < 0.001). Finally, the initial stage (p = 0.011) and the histologic subtype (those patients with follicular mixed lymphoma relapsing less frequently than the others) (p = 0.052) were the only significant factors for relapse.
Postgraduate School of Hematology, Farreras Valenti, University of Barcelona, Spain.
A
A
Lopez-Guillermo
E
E
Montserrat
F
F
Bosch
L
L
Escoda
M J
MJ
Terol
P
P
Marin
J C
JC
Reverter
J
J
Blade
F
F
Cervantes
J
J
Sierra
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000477:Alkylating Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012074:Remission Induction; D012307:Risk Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000477:Alkylating Agents; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor