title: Children and adolescents with follicular lymphoma have an excellent prognosis with either limited chemotherapy or with a "Watch and wait" strategy after complete resection.
abstract: Data on clinical features and outcome in pediatric follicular lymphoma (pFL) are scarce. The aim of this retrospective study including 13 EICNHL and/or i-BFM study group members was to assess clinical characteristics and course in a series of 63 pFL patients. pFL was found to be associated with male gender (3:1), older age (72 % ≥10 years old), low serum LDH levels (<500 U/l in 75 %), grade 3 histology (in 88 %), and limited disease (87 % stage I/II disease), mostly involving the peripheral lymph nodes. Forty-four out of sixty-three patients received any polychemotherapy and 1/63 rituximab only, while 17/63 underwent a "watch and wait" strategy. Of 36 stage I patients, 30 had complete resections. Only one patient relapsed; 2-year event-free survival and overall survival were 94 ± 5 and 100 %, respectively, after a median follow-up of 2.2 years. Conclusively, treatment outcome in pFL seems to be excellent with risk-adapted chemotherapy or after complete resection and an observational strategy only.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, St. Anna Children's Hospital, Kinderspitalgasse 6, 1090, Vienna, Austria, andishe.attarbaschi@stanna.at.
authors.forename: Andishe
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Attarbaschi
authors.forename: Auke
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beishuizen
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mann
authors.forename: Angelo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rosolen
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Uyttebroeck
authors.forename: Felix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Niggli
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Csoka
authors.forename: Zdenka
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Krenova
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mellgren
authors.forename: Edita
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kabickova
authors.forename: Alan Ks
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Chiang
authors.forename: Alfred
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reiter
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Birgit
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Burkhardt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003625:Data Collection / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008224:Lymphoma, Follicular / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate / Q000639:trends; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D057832:Watchful Waiting / Q000639:trends*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents