A retrospective analysis of clinicopathological characteristics, treatment, and outcome of 27 patients of primary intestinal lymphomas.

PURPOSE

Primary intestinal lymphomas comprise of a wide variety of histological subtypes with varied presentation. The objective of this study was to determine the presentation, histological type, treatment, and outcome of patients of primary intestinal lymphoma.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of 27 patients of primary intestinal lymphoma treated at our institute from 2004 to 2010 was carried out. Patients were staged according to Musshoff's modification of Ann Arbor classification.

RESULTS

The median age was 51 years (range, 7-76 years). Abdominal pain was the most common presenting symptom followed by mass abdomen, loss of appetite, constipation, and vomiting. The most common site of disease presentation was ileocecal region and jejunum. Diffuse large B cell lymphoma was the predominant histological type observed in 55.6%. Eighteen patients underwent surgery with or without chemotherapy. Chemotherapy, either alone or with radiotherapy, was given to nine patients. The median follow-up was 48.3 months (range 5-94 months). The 5-year overall survival (OS) and event-free survival were 53.5 and 53%, respectively. The 5-year OS for patients who underwent both surgery and chemotherapy was 79.5% and for those without surgery was 13.9%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Primary intestinal lymphomas are heterogenous diseases. Patients who underwent surgery had better survival and outcome than those without surgery. Chemotherapy is necessary for improving the survival of these patients. Optimal management is still uncertain due to the rarity of this disease.