Clinicopathological and survival features of primary hepatic lymphoma: an analysis of 35 cases

Abstract

To evaluate the clinicopathological features and prognosis of primary hepatic lymphoma (PHL). Thirty-five patients with PHL who underwent surgical resection and were confirmed by pathology in our hospital from 1982 to 2012 were re-evaluated for clinicopathological data, including their symptoms, radiological features, recurrence interval, histopathological properties and prognosis. Of the 35 patients, 25 were men (71.4%) and 10 were women (28.6%), with an average age of 52.6 years old (range, 17-79 years). Presented symptoms were epigastric phymatosis, abdominal pain and low-grade fever. In the present study, 21 (60.0%) patients were positive for HBsAg, 1(2.9%) patient was positive for anti-HCV, 3 patients were positive for AFP, 12 patients and 2 patients were complicated by cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, respectively. Pathologically, 35 PHL were classified into 19 DLBCL (54.3%), 13 T cell-lymphoma (37.1%), and 3 MALT lymphoma (8.6%). Patients with DCBCL showed better postoperative survival than patients with T cell-lymphoma (31.7 ± 3.2) months vs. (22.9 ± 2.2) months (P < 0.05). Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection may contribute to the pathogenesis of Chinese patients with PHL. Surgical resection followed by comprehensive therapy is the first-line option for PHL. The prognosis of patients with PHL is associated with PHL subtypes.