MANTLE CELL LYMPHOMAS - CHARACTERISTICS, NATURAL-HISTORY AND PROGNOSTIC FACTORS OF 45 CASES

We reviewed 77 cases considered as lymphocytic lymphomas of intermedia te differentiation or diffuse centrocytic lymphomas. Forty-five cases were diagnosed as mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). The architectural patter n was diffuse in 95%, 8 cases presented large blastoid cells and CD5 p ositivity was observed in 28/34 cases. Of 20 cases studied, 8 presente d a t(11;14)(q13;q32). Patient characteristics were: median age 59 yea rs, B symptoms in 38%, 87% stages III-TV, bone marrow involvement in 6 7% with peripheral leukemic cells in 24%. Forty-four patients were tre ated with chemotherapy and 7 received radiotherapy. The complete respo nse (CR) rate was 58%. Of the 26 CR, 19 relapsed at a median of 15 mon ths. Disease-free survival was 42% and overall survival was 73% at 3 y ears. In a univariate analysis, overall survival was related to liver and bone marrow involvement, the presence of peripheral lymphomatous c ells and achieving a complete response.