Chemotherapy for MALTomas-are We Back to Where We Started?. Jager G, Neumeister P, Brezinschek R, et al., Treatment of Extranodal Marginal Zone B-Cell Lymphoma of Mucosal-Associated Lymphoid Tissue Type With Cladribine: A Phase II Study, JCO 2002;20:3872-7

Abstract

The authors undertook a prospective study to evaluate the activity of cladribine (2-CDA) in mucosal-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma (MALTomas). Patients with histologically verified extranodal marginal zone B-cell MALT-type lymphoma were enrolled onto this prospective phase II study. Prior chemotherapy was an exclusion criterion, but patients relapsing after radiation therapy were included. Patients had full metastatic evaluations before therapy and were staged based on a modified Ann Arbor system. These evaluations included the following procedures: ophthalmological examination, ear, nose, throat examination including sonogram of salivary glands or magnetic resonance imaging if needed, gastroscopy with multiple biopsies, endosonography of the upper GI tract, enteroclysis, colonoscopy, CT of the thorax and abdomen, and bone marrow biopsy. Patients with Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)-associated gastric MALT-type lymphoma restricted to mucosa and submucosa (stage EI1) were enrolled only after demonstration of unresponsiveness to successful H. pylori eradication, but patients with more advanced gastric lymphoma (EI2) or extragastric MALT-type lymphoma were directly enrolled.