Long-term outcome and prognostic factors in early-stage nodal low-grade non-hodgkin's lymphomas treated with radiation therapy.
OBJECTIVE
Retrospective analysis of therapy results in patients with stage I-II and limited stage III nodal low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL).


METHODS
The present retrospective study covers 65 patients treated between 1988 and 2006 at the Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Cologne, Germany. 50 patients were treated with radiotherapy alone (EF [extended field]: n = 35, IF/REG [involved field/regional field]: n = 9, TNI/TLI [total nodal/total lymphatic]: n = 6), 15 patients additionally received chemotherapy. Median age was 58 years. 58 patients presented with centroblastic-centrocytic or follicular lymphomas, seven patients had centrocytic lymphomas. Apart from overall and relapse-free survival, relapse patterns were examined and the impacts of patient characteristics and therapy modalities were analyzed.


RESULTS
After a median follow-up of 9.1 years, overall 5-year and 10-year survival was 86% and 55%, relapse-free survival was 55% and 37%, respectively. Relapses occurred in 28 patients during the observation period. Overall survival was favorably influenced by low patient age (p = 0.037), centroblastic-centrocytic/follicular histology (p = 0.006), and early disease stage (p = 0.045). Favorable prognostic factors for relapse-free survival were low patient age (p = 0.035) and centroblastic-centrocytic/follicular histology (p = 0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
Radiotherapy of early-stage low-grade NHL is a curative therapy option, particularly in younger patients and patients with follicular histology. Relapse analysis confirmed the benefits of total nodal or total lymphatic irradiation, although the small number of patients needs to be considered.
Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Cologne, Köln, Germany. hans.eich@uk-koeln.de
Hans Theodor
HT
Eich
Martina
M
Heimann
Hartmut
H
Stützer
Jan
J
Kriz
Marcel
M
Reiser
Rolf-Peter
RP
Müller
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000401:mortality* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D020266:Radiotherapy, Conformal / Q000401:mortality*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome