Primary mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma of Waldeyer's ring:clinical characteristics and long-term outcome

Abstract

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics and long-term outcome of patients with mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue ( MALT) lymphoma of Waldeyer's ring. Methods Ten patients were retrospectively analyzed. Seven patients had stage ⅠE and 3 patients had stage ⅡE disease. All patients received radiation therapy with a median dose of 40 Gy, and 7 patients also received 1 t0 4 cycles of CHOP-based chemotherapy before radiation. Results The ratio of male to female was 1∶9. The median age was 58 years. No patient had B symptoms. One patient had elevated LDH level. The complete response rate after treatment was 100％. With median follow-up periods of 90 months, 1 patient died from rectal cancer. One patient developed brain metastasis and was salvaged by radiotherapy. The 5-year overall survival, cancer specific survival and progression-free survival rates were 90％ , 100％ and 80％ , respectively. Conclusions The clinical characteristics of Waldeyer's ring MALT lymphoma were similar to that of nongastric MALT lymphoma. For patients with Waldeyer's ring MALT lymphoma, primary radiotherapy can result in excellent long-term survival. Key words: Lymphoma / radiotherapy; Lymphoma,mucosa - associated lymphoid tissue; Lymphoma,Waldeyer' s ring; Prognosis