TREATMENT AND PROGNOSIS OF GASTRIC LYMPHOMA

To assess the developments in the prognosis and treatment of patients with primary gastric non-Hodgkin's lymphoma we reviewed 178 papers in English, German, and French on the subject that were listed on MEDLINE between January 1974 and April 1995. We analysed the results of 3157 patients, and during that period the overall survival increased from 3 7% to 87%. Overall survival by Ann Arbor stage was 57%. 998/1296 (77%) for stage IE, 231/330 (70%) for stage II1E, 107/290 (37%) for stage I I2E, 53/172 (31%) for stage IIIE, and 122/451 (27%) for stage IV. Over half the publications recommended resection alone. Only 12 (15%) thou ght that radiotherapy or chemotherapy, alone or in combination, was ad equate. The results of all treatments were similar in 1296 patients wi th stage IE disease. For stage IIE-IVE disease, however, 66 (82%) of a uthors suggested a treatment protocol that included resection, and of these 39 (49%) recommended a combination of resection, local radiother apy, and systemic chemotherapy. The number of patients reported was to o small for us to be able to give precise recommendations for treatmen t of gastric non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and we have been able to give onl y an evaluation of current treatments.