title: Pretreatment risk factors for overall survival in patients with gastrointestinal and non-gastrointestinal mucosa associated lymphoid tissue lymphomas.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this 10-year retrospective study was to investigate prognostic clinical and laboratory factors significant for the outcome of patients with mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study involved 87 patients diagnosed with MALT lymphoma: 37 (42.5%) with gastrointestinal (GI) and 50 (57.5%) with non-GI localization. The following pretreatment laboratory parameters were analyzed: hemoglobin, serum albumin and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level, beta2-microglobulin (bgr;2-M) and bacteriological (H.pylori) status. Estimated clinical features were: stage of disease, ECOG performance status (PS), tumor mass, number of extranodal localizations, presence of B symptomatology, splenomegaly and enlarged lymph nodes. Diagnosis of MALT lymphoma was based on histopathological analysis of tissue samples, obtained by endoscopy or surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median disease-free survival (DFS) was 36 months and the 5-year overall survival (OS) was 64%. OS rate of patients with non-GI localization was higher compared with patients with GI localization (p=0.001). Multivariate analysis showed hypoalbuminemia to be the most significant parameter associated with poor OS (p<0.001) for both patient groups. The most significant prognostic factor for poor OS in patients with GI localization was LDH level (p=0.031), while hypoalbuminemia was the most significant prognostic factor for poor OS in the group with non-GI disease localization (p=0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Proper therapeutic approach for MALT lymphoma patients could be planned taking into consideration poor prognostic parameters, i.e. hypoalbuminemia and elevated LDH for GI patients and hypoalbuminemia for non- GI lymphoma patients.
authors.affiliation: Clinic for Hematology, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors.forename: Marijana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Virijevic
authors.forename: Maja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Perunicic-Jovanovic
authors.forename: Irena
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Djunic
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Novkovic
authors.forename: Biljana
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Mihaljevic
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D016480:Helicobacter pylori / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006801:Humans; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase / Q000097:blood; D018442:Lymphoma, B-Cell, Marginal Zone / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D001613:beta 2-Microglobulin; D007770:L-Lactate Dehydrogenase