Prognostic factors in primary gastrointestinal non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma. A multivariate analysis, report of 106 cases, and review of the literature

The authors have reviewed 106 cases of primary gastrointestinal non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (GI‐NHL) treated at the Institut Gustave‐Roussy (IGR), France, between 1975 and 1986. The occurrence was 55 in the stomach, 26 in the small intestine, ten ileocecal, seven in the large intestine, and eight patients had multiple involvement. Patients were clinically staged according to the Ann Arbor staging system using the modification of Musshoff for Stage IIE. All histologic material of the 106 patients were reviewed and graded according to the Working Formulation (WF) and the Kiel classifications. Most patients received combination chemotherapy as part or all of their primary treatment program (95 patients, 90%). Seventy five patients (71%) had a multimodality treatment. The overall 5‐year survival rate was 60%. Sixteen variables were tested by univariate analyses for prognostic influence on survival. Of these, only clinical stage (P < 0.001), the achievement of initial complete remission (CR) (P < 0.001), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (P = 0.01), mesenteric involvement (P = 0.03), and serosal infiltration (P = 0.05) were significant prognostic factors. Important variables were tested by a multivariate analysis using the Cox model taking into account different treatment modalities. Only three variables entered the regression analysis at a significant level: clinical stage (P = 0.02), surgical resection (P = 0.03), and histologic grade (Kiel) (P = 0.04). When the achievement of initial CR was introduced into the model, it was the most significant variable (P < 0.001) whereas all other variables became nonsignificant except for the histologic grade (Kiel) (P = 0.004). Based on results of the multivariate analyses we propose two prognostic classifications of patients: one at the initial evaluation depending on clinical stage, surgical resectability, and histologic grade (Kiel); the other at the end of primary treatment depending on the achievement or not of CR and the histologic grade.