RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF 43 PATIENTS WITH LOW-GRADE NON-HODGKIN'S LYMPHOMA

Abstract

Clinical courses and treatment results of 43 patients with low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (28 follicular small cleaved, 5 follicular mixed, 10 small lymphocytic) were retrospectively studied. Initial management included“watchful waiting”for 1, surgical resection for 3, surgical resection followed by chemotherapy for 2, radiotherapy for 4, chemotherapy and radiotherapy for 3, and multidrug-combination chemotherapy for 30 patients. All patients treated with surgical resection or radiotherapy achieved complete response (CR) . Among patients treated with multidrug-conbination chemotherapy, 8 achieved CR and 15 partial response (PR) . There was no difference in either CR rate or response rate between patients treated with the first-generation chemotherapy regimen and those treated with the thirdgeneration regimen. The overall 5-year survival rate was 70%. Patients with follicular small cleaved histology survived longer than did those with small lymphocytic histology. Classifications by age, clinical stage, or international prognostic index failed to show a significant difference in survival. Patients who achieved CR survived longer than did PR patients; however, relapses were frequent and their 5-year disease-free survival rate was 51%. No data supporting the significance of maintenance chemotherapy were obtained.