Pediatric non-Hodgkin lymphoma: a retrospective 14-year experience with Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster (BFM) protocols from a tertiary care hospital in Serbia.

Use of current intensive chemotherapy protocols in pediatric non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in high-income countries resulted in event-free survival (EFS) rates ranging from 80 to 90%. The results are inferior in less privileged countries with limited resources for medical care. There are no reports about comprehensive data analysis in pediatric NHL in Serbia. A retrospective study was carried out at University Children's Hospital, Belgrade, in children aged less than 18 years diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma from 1997 to 2011. Fifty-seven children were eligible for analysis. Fourteen were diagnosed with lymphoblastic lymphoma, 38 with mature B-cell NHL (B-NHL), and 5 with anaplastic large-cell lymphoma. Mean age at diagnosis was 9.2 years, with male to female ratio 2.35:1. Children were treated according to Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster (BFM) protocols. With median follow-up of 59.3 months, 5-year probability of EFS was 84.1% for all patients, whereas overall survival was 93%. These results with BFM protocol administration, although inferior to leading international groups, reflect good treatment outcome in our patients. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this article presents the first results regarding treatment and survival of childhood NHL in Serbia.