Objective To study clinical characteristics and
prognostic factors in
systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma (S-ALCL).
Methods Clinical date of 30 systemic ALCL
patients from Department Hemotology of Shanxi
Cancer Hospital from December 1998 to September 2009 were reviewed. Results The median age of the 30
patients was 36 years old. The
male/
female ratio was 1.51.18 (60.0 %) 18/30 of the
patients had B symptoms, 22 (73.3 %) had Ann Arbor stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ, and 18 (60.0 %) had extranodal
disease at
diagnosis. 14 (46.7 %) had elevated
lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level. The positive rate of ALK was 18 (60.0 %). Compared with ALK negative
patients, ALK-positive
patients were younger (u = 3.92, P=0.001).ALK expression and LDH level were important
prognostic factors by Long-rank test. Conclusion S-ALCL usually occur in younger
patients, with good response to
chemotherapy and good
prognosis. ALK negative and elevated LDH level are correlated to unfavorable
prognosis.
Combination chemotherapy is the major choice to these
patients. High-
dose chemotherapy maybe benefit to the
patients who have adverse
prognostic factors.