The clinicopathological spectrum of HIV-associated lymphoma: Eleven-year-experience in a general hospital in Peru

Abstract

e19561 Background: The clinicopathological spectrum of HIV-associated lymphomas in developing countries has not been clearly defined. Thus, this study is aimed to describe these features in cases from a Peruvian population. Methods: This is a retrospective review of the clinical records of patients with diagnosis of HIV in our institution from March 1997 to March 2008. We reviewed 2502 clinical records. The statistical method was descriptive and survival was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results: Forty-eight patients with HIV-associated lymphoma were identified. Male:female ratio was 15:1. Median age was 42 years (range 27 to 70). 32 patients (67%) had clinical stage III-IV, B symptoms 35 (73%), the International Prognostic Index was low-risk 20 patients (42%), low-intermediate risk 15 patients (31%), high-intermediate risk 10 patients (21%) and high-risk 3 patients (6%). CD4 count lower than 100 cells/uL was 11 patients (23%). The CD4 count median was 184 cells/uL. The nodal localization in 27 patients (56%) was lightly higher. Forty-four cases (92%) were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) and 4 cases (8%) with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL). From the 44 NHL cases, 40 cases (91%) were of B-cell origin; 23 cases (57.5%) had diffuse large B-cell, 9 cases (22.5%) had Burkitt, 3 cases (7.5%) had plasmablastic, 2 cases (5%) had primary CNS, 2 cases (5%) had MALT and 1 case (2.5%) had primary effusion lymphoma. The remaining 4 cases (9%) were of T-cell origin; 3 cases (75%) had peripheral T-cell lymphoma NOS and 1 case (25%) was ALK-negative anaplastic large cell lymphoma. Only 16 patients (33%) were receiving HAART previously the diagnosis of NHL and 33 patients (68%) received any oncology treatment. Conclusions: This entity is aggressive and frequently has extranodal involvement. Also a high proportion of T-cells lymphomas are found. These findings are in concordance with one prior report of another general hospital from Peru. No significant financial relationships to disclose.