Primary ileocecal lymphoma. A study of 22 patients.

Twenty-two patients with primary ileocecal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were reviewed. Abdominal pain (67%), altered bowel habits (50%), and weight loss (50%) were the most common presenting symptoms and an abdominal mass was palpable in 50%. Sixteen (73%) had histologic evidence of local lymph node involvement at diagnosis and another two (9%) had nonhistologic evidence of nodal involvement. An abdominal computed tomography (CT) scan was the most helpful staging investigation. Twenty-one (95.5%) patients underwent surgical resection of their disease. Subsequent chemotherapy, with or without radio-therapy, appeared to prolong survival (median, 34 months versus 14 months). There were three treatment-related deaths. Neither the age of the patient nor the stage of disease at presentation (Ann Arbor) appeared to influence survival. Adequate initial surgery combined with chemotherapy may provide optimum therapy in patients with primary ileocecal lymphoma.