title: Primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of bone: a rare disorder with high frequency of T-cell phenotype in southern Taiwan.
abstract: Primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of bone (PLB) is a rare disorder representing less than 1% of all non-Hodgkin's lymphomas and has rarely been reported in Taiwan. A retrospective clinicopathological study was performed according to the 2002 World Health Organization criteria and identified 14 cases during a 13-year period in 2 medical centers in southern Taiwan. There was male predominance (M:F = 6:1) with a median age of 42 and bone pain (6 patients, 43%) as the most common symptom. Half of the patients had monostotic and the other half polyostotic lesions. Axial skeletons (10 cases, 71%) were the most frequent sites of involvement. The staging results were stage I (9 patients, 64%), stage II (2, 14%) and stage IV (3, 21%). Eight cases (57%) were of B-cell phenotype and the remaining 6 (43%), T-cell. Histologically, 7 (50%) were diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs) and 5 (36%) anaplastic large cell lymphomas. Seven patients received chemotherapy and radiotherapy; 4 chemotherapy and 3 radiotherapy alone. Of the 11 patients with follow-up information, 6 (55%) died of disease within 1 year including 5 with T-cell lymphomas, while all the 5 patients surviving over 1 year were of B-cell phenotype. The overall 1-year survival rate was 45%. The survival of B-cell lymphomas was significantly better than T-cell tumors (p = 0.016, log-rank test). In summary, this study reported the largest series of PBL in Taiwan and confirmed that the majority was DLBCL and B-cell tumors had more favorable prognosis. As compared to the Western series, the cases showed a striking male predominance, higher percentage of axial skeleton involvement, higher relative frequency of T-lineage tumors and poorer prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Veterans General Hospital-Kaohsiung, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Pin-Pen
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Hsieh
authors.forename: Hui-Hwa
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.forename: Sheng-Tsung
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Ting-Ying
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Chin-Li
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Shih-Sung
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Chuang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D019070:Cell Lineage; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010641:Phenotype; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D012074:Remission Induction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000473:pathology*; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors