Primary intestinal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a retrospective study of 85 cases / 南方医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To review the clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of primary intestinal non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (PINHL) and analyze the differences between T-cell and B-cell lymphomas.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>The characteristics of PINHL patients treated in our hospital between January 2003 and December 2010 were reviewed for their clinical manifestations, diagnosis, endoscopic findings, treatments and outcomes.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Eighty-five cases of PINHL meeting the Dawson's criteria were identified. The median age of the patients at the time of diagnosis was 52 years and the male female ratio was 3.051; 58 cases (68.2%) had B-lineage and 27 cases (31.8%) had T-cell lineage lymphomas. Compared to those with B-cell lymphoma, patients with T-cell lymphomas showed a younger age of disease onset (32 vs 56 years, P<0.01) and presented with a greater incidence of such symptoms as fever, hematochezia, diarrhea and night sweats (P<0.05); T-cell lymphoma showed more multifocal and ulcerative/ulcero-infiltrative lesions under endoscope with a longer diagnosis time (4 vs 2 months, P<0.01) and a greater likeliness of misdiagnosis (16/27 vs 12/58, P<0.01) and poor prognosis. Extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma was the most common type of T-cell lymphomas.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>In our cases, T-cell lymphoma appeared to be more common than B-cell lymphoma with a younger onset age, more difficult diagnosis, a greater likeliness of misdiagnosis, poorer prognosis and more extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma.</p>