Clinicopathological features and management of patients with primary CNS lymphoma: Peruvian experience in two cancer centers.

Abstract

e19541 Background: Primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) is an aggressive and rare extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma with a dismal prognosis in most patients. Outcomes in Latin population is unknown. Methods: We present a retrospective cohort of fifty-five and six newly diagnosed Peruvian patients treated at the Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplasicas from 2000-2020 and at Oncosalud from 2014-2020, respectively. Inclusion criteria were (1) histologic diagnosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma by two pathologists; (2) disease localized exclusively in the brain, cranial nerves, meninges, or eyes; and (3) no evidence of human immunodeficiency virus infection. Results: Median age at diagnosis was 52 years old [range 21-76]. Sixty-one percent were men. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status was ≥2 in 68% of patients. Clinical presentation was characterized by intracranial hypertension symptoms (67%), focal deficit (64%), visual disturbance (18%), and seizures (9%). elevated LDH was present in 26/46 (57%) patients, multiple lesions in 19/56 (34%) patients, and involvement of deep structures 21/62 (34%) patients. Seven patients were treated by surgery only (3, subtotal and 4, total resection), three patients received radiotherapy only, and six patients did not receive any treatment. Forty-two patients received the following chemotherapy protocols: DeAngelis (26%), high-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) (17%), HD-MTX + high-dose ARAC (HD-ARAC) (36%) and HD- MTX + HD-ARAC + Rituximab (9%), HD-MTX + Rituximab + Temozolomide (TMZ) as induction and consolidation with etoposide (VP16) + HD-ARAC (12%), the latter was used in the private center. Clinical outcomes are described in Table. The median follow-up time was 9m (0.03-248). The median overall survival (OS) was 9.9m, 5y OS was 41.7% (95% CI, 29.2-53.9). The median OS were 6.6m and 67.3m for the public and the private institution, respectively (p=0.02). 5y OS was 34% and 100% in the public and the private center, respectively. Conclusions: Peruvian patients are 15 years younger than those reported in the literature. OS in our cohort is dismal, being poorer in those patients treated at the public center reflecting treatment disparities between the public and private health system. All patients who received HD-MTX+HD-ARAC+TMZ as induction and VP16 +HD-ARAC as consolidation achieved complete response and the median OS was not reached although this can be explained due to a short follow-up time compared to those who received DeAngelis regimen. A longer follow-up is needed to demonstrate if polychemotherapy without radiotherapy is the best treatment in this group of patients.[Table: see text]