[Primary non-Hodgkin lymphoma of small bowel: a clinical analysis of 34 cases].

OBJECTIVE

To study the clinical characteristics,treatment and prognosis of primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of small bowel.

METHODS

The records of 34 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of small bowel, registered between Jan. 1996 and Dec. 2005 at our hospital, were retrieved and analysed retrospectively.

RESULTS

Twenty-seven patients had B-cell lymphoma and 7 had T-cell lymphoma of the small bowel. The major symptoms included abdominal pain and intestinal obstruction. According to Ann Arbor staging classification, 22 patients belonged to stage III, including 20 cases of B-cell lymphoma and 2 cases of T-cell lymphoma, and 12 patients belonged to stage IIIIV, including 7 cases of B-cell lymphoma and 5 cases of T-cell lymphoma. Compared with T-cell lymphoma patients, B-cell lymphoma patients had lower lymphoma stages (P<0.05). Twenty-seven patients were treated with surgical resection. Fourteen patients were treated with six cycles of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone (CHOP) chemotherapy, and 8 patients were treated with Rituximab at the same time. T-cell lymphoma patients were more often treated with emergent operation than B-cell lymphoma patients would (P<0.05). It happened more frequently that B-cell lymphoma patients reached complete remission and their accumulative survival rate was longer than T-cell lymphoma patients did (P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

Patients with stages I and II B-cell lymphoma of small bowel respond well to surgery and chemotherapy, and the treatment and prognosis of patients with T-cell lymphoma of small bowel are unsatisfactory.