Primary lymphoma of the liver: A more optimistic point of view

Abstract

Nine adult white men ranging in age from 27 to 76 (mean, 55 years) were treated for primary hepatic lymphoma between 1972 and 1986 at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Six patients presented with right upper quadrant or epigastric pain or discomfort, and three patients complained of fatigue and lethargy. Fever and night sweats were evident in two, and two patients had lost weight. One patient was asymptomatic; the liver mass was detected during the work-up for cancer of the prostate. Seven patients on whom computerized tomography was performed all had solitary masses in the liver although in three of them tumor had extended into both lobes as noticed at surgery. One had additional porta hepatic lymph node metastasis. Eight patients underwent an exploratory laparotomy; four had hepatic resection, and four had wedge biopsies of unresectable liver tumor. One patient had a percutaneous needle biopsy of the liver. Eight patients received combination chemotherapy. Six patients are alive, five of whom are in initial complete remission. All three patients who died had persistent or recurrent disease in the liver. The results of therapy and surgery to date in these and in other cases in the literature are encouraging.