title: Primary gastrointestinal tract lymphomas.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the prognostic factors and treatment modalities affecting survival in patients with primary gastrointestinal tract lymphoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Gastrointestinal tract lymphoma patients were retrospectively studied. Age and sex of patients, location and histopathological grade of tumour, stage of disease, extent of surgical resection and chemotherapy were evaluated as prognostic factors. Effects of clinicopathological and treatment associated factors on disease-free and overall survival were calculated in univariate and multivariate analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  On univariate analysis, disease stage (p = 0.002), extent of surgical resection (p = 0.003) and chemotherapy (p = 0.001) were found to be significantly affecting overall survival and none of the studied factors were found to be related with disease-free survival. Multivariate analysis revealed that grade of the tumour (p = 0.042) and chemotherapy (p = 0.028) significantly affected disease-free survival and disease stage (p = 0.013) and chemotherapy (p = 0.0003) were independent prognostic factors for overall survival. In addition, surgery and chemotherapy in combination, significantly increased overall survival compared to surgery or chemotherapy only.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early stage patients have a better survival and it could be prolonged if surgery with no residual disease is performed; adjuvant chemotherapy provides an additional benefit.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Ankara Oncology Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. atalay_can@hotmail.com
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Atalay
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kanliöz
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Demir
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pak
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Altinok
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001707:Biopsy, Needle; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D013505:Digestive System Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D016019:Survival Analysis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014421:Turkey