Abstract
From January 1984 to June 1994, 46 children with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) or leukemia lymphoma syndrome (LLS) were treated at Kanagawa Children's Medical Center. Eleven patients were classified as stage I or II according to Murphy's classification, 27 had advanced disease (stage III or IV), and 8 were LLS. By surface marker analysis, 14 patients were T NHL/LLS, 21 B NHL/LLS, 6 Ki-1 lymphoma and 5 surface marker unknown. All patients with T NHL/LLS had a mediastinal mass. Kaplan-Meier estimates of event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) at 10 years in all patients were 42.1% and 61.8%. In patients with localized disease, EFS and OS at 10 years were 80% and 100%. In advanced cases, both EFS and OS at 5 years were better for B NHL/LLS than T NHL/LLS (EFS : 29.4% vs. 14.3%, OS : 54.1% vs. 35.1%). Eighteen patients underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Of the 13 cases transplanted in their first or second complete remission, 10 are alive without disease. In conclusion, the prognosis of advanced NHL or LLS, especially T cell phenotype, is still poor, and we need a more effective treatment program.
