title: Malignant gastrointestinal lymphomas in patients with AIDS.
abstract: HIV-associated malignant lymphomas are a common complication in late HIV infection, and there is a high percentage of gastrointestinal tract involvement. Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was found in 108 of 2,750 HIV-positive patients (3.9%) in our institution, whereas gastrointestinal manifestation was diagnosed in 48 of 108 patients (44.4%). 44 of these cases were found during endoscopy of the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract (or by laparotomy or laparoscopy in 4 cases). Endoscopy is a reliable procedure for the diagnosis of lymphoma. Unusual manifestations such as oral, esophageal or perianal lesions and multifocal disease were common findings. Life-threatening complications such as gastrointestinal bleeding, perforation, and obstruction occurred in 37.5%. High-grade B-cell lymphomas were found in all cases including mainly lymphoblastic, immunoblastic, centroblastic and Burkitt subtypes. 52% of the patients had disseminated lymphoma with Ann Arbor stage III or IV. Standard chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine and prednisone was started  in 25 patients and resulted in a mean survival time of 4.8 months. The prognosis of AIDS patients presenting with malignant gastrointestinal lymphoma depends mainly on the presence or absence of previous AIDS-defining diseases, not CD4 cells, lymphoma-associated gastrointestinal complications or the histopathologic lymphoma type at the time of diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology and Infectious Diseases, Anguste Viktoria Hospital, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Heise
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arastéh
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mostertz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Skörde
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Obst
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Koeppen
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Grosse
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Niedobitek
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: L'Age
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001706:Biopsy; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D016099:Endoscopy, Gastrointestinal; D005260:Female; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D016483:Lymphoma, AIDS-Related / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate