[Non Hodgkin lymphoma of the stomach: evaluation of surgical treatment in 24 patients].

This is a retrospective review of 24 patients with Non Hodgkin Lymphoma of the stomach operated between 1959 and 1991. The diagnosis was reached with a radiological study in 12 of 15 (80%) patients and with endoscopy in 11 of 16 (69%) of patients. Eleven of 14 (78%) preoperative biopsies available at the moment of the revision were positive for non Hodgkin Lymphoma. Clinical staging was performed using Ann Arbor Classification and the histological type was defined according to the Working Formulation. Diffuse large cell lymphoma (intermediate grade) was the most frequent histological subtype. Eleven patients were in clinical stage I, 10 patients in stage II and 3 in stage IV. Eight total gastrectomies and 16 subtotal gastrectomies were performed. Twenty one percent of patients had a postoperative complication and operative mortality was 12%. Stage I patients were treated exclusively with surgery and no recurrences were observed. Stage II patients received adjuvant chemotherapy, the tumor recurred in three and two died due to disease progression. Five years disease free survival was 64%. It is concluded that surgical treatment achieves a good disease control in stage I patients but must be complemented with chemotherapy in stage II tumors.