title: Is the International Prognostic Index for aggressive lymphomas useful for low-grade lymphoma patients? Applicability to stage III-IV patients. The GOELAMS Group, France.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The International Prognostic Index (IPI) is widely used to predict outcome of patients with aggressive lymphomas. Our goal was to assess the prognostic value of this index for low-grade lymphoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred eighty-two patients with disseminated (stage III or IV) low-grade lymphoma were enrolled in a prospective multicenter trial. According to the initial features, treatment either was started immediately or was deferred until indicated by disease progression. Patients received the same polychemotherapy regimen, given monthly for six cycles. They were assigned to one of four risk groups according to the number of presenting risk factors: low-risk (0 or 1), low-intermediate-risk (2), high-intermediate-risk (3), high-risk groups (4).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Survival curves (Kaplan-Meier method) demonstrated a high significant difference for the four groups (log-rank: P < 0.0001). Median survival for the low-risk group has yet to be reached, while that for the three other groups are, respectively, 65, 34, and 12 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this study, the IPI has been found to be an important prognostic tool in low-grade lymphoma and may be used in the selection of appropriate therapeutic approaches for individual patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, CHU Angers, France.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Foussard
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Desablens
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sensebe
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: François
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Milpied
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Deconinck
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Delwail
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dugay
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lamy
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ghandour
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Le Mevel
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Maisonneuve
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Casassus
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Colombat
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000097:blood; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase