PRIMARY NON-HODGKINS-LYMPHOMA OF THE STOMACH - 3 RADICAL MODALITIES OF TREATMENT IN 75 PATIENTS

Background: Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) remains a rare form of gastri c malignancy, with a rising incidence. Approaches to treatment vary fr om surgery alone to conservative management. Methods: To determine the optimal scheme of treatment, a randomized clinical trial was undertak en. Seventy-five patients were randomized into three groups: A-surgery alone (25), B-surgery followed by chemotherapy (29), and C-radiation therapy followed by surgery and chemotherapy (21). Forty-nine patients had stage IE and 26 had stage IIE disease. Chemotherapy (COP and COPP ) consisted of 6 courses during a 1-year period, with the courses bein g 6 weeks apart. Results: Subtotal gastrectomy was performed in 26 pat ients. Forty-nine patients underwent total gastrectomy. Postoperative complications occurred in 6 (8%) patients: 3 (12%) in group A, 2 (6.9% ) in group B, and 1 (4.7%) in group C. Postoperative mortality occurre d in 2 (8%) patients in group A (2.7% of all patients). An increase in hospital admissions number per year and decrease of mean age of patie nts with NHL of the stomach after the Chernobyl accident on April 26, 1986 was noted. Conclusions: Improved survival in gastric NHL was achi eved by a combination of preoperative radiation with surgery and posto perative chemotherapy, presumptively through the management of local a nd systemic disease.