title: International and Italian prognostic indices in follicular lymphoma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The International Prognostic Index (IPI), initially designed for aggressive lymphomas, has been successfully used in patients with follicular lymphoma (FL). The Italian Lymphoma Intergroup (ILI) created a new prognostic index specific for FL. The aim of this study was to compare which of these two indices is more useful when applied to a large group of FL patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Both indices, IPI (age >60 years, extranodal involvement >=2 sites, elevated lactate dehydrogenase, ECOG >=2, stage >=3) and ILI (age >60 years, extranodal involvement >=2 sites, elevated lactate dehydrogenase, male sex, B symptoms, erythrocyte sedimentation rate >=30 mm 1(st) hour) were calculated in a group of 398 FL patients. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) associated with each prognostic group were calculated according to the Kaplan-Meier method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall concordance between both indices was 73%. According to the IPI 122 patients (31%) were in the higher risk group, whereas according to the ILI 132 (33%) were; concordance between the high risk groups was 66%. The 10-years OS and PFS rates after applying the IPI system were 73% and 37%, respectively, in the low risk groups; 47% and 26%, in the intermediate risk groups and 25% and 2%, in the high risk groups (log-rank=69.2 and 41.3, respectively; p<0.0001). According to ILI index the 10-year OS and PFS were 60% and 34%, respectively, in the low risk groups; 59% and 30%, in the intermediate risk groups and 17% and 0%, in the high risk groups (log-rank=86.6 and 58.5, respectively; p<0.0001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both the IPI and ILI index, are useful for classifying FL patients into different risk groups. Although it seems that the ILI index has a higher discriminating power among groups, significant differences were not observed in identifying FL patients with a poor outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain. gperea@hsp.santpau.es
authors.forename: Granada
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Perea
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Altés
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Montoto
authors.forename: Armando
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: López-Guillermo
authors.forename: Francesc
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bosch
authors.forename: Mónica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jiménez
authors.forename: Jordi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Esteve
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Domingo
authors.forename: Josep M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Ribera
authors.forename: Carmen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pedro
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Martino
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Briones
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sureda
authors.forename: Salut
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Brunet
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sierra
authors.forename: Emili
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Montserrat
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008224:Lymphoma, Follicular / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016019:Survival Analysis