PRIMARY GASTRIC NON-HODGKINS-LYMPHOMA - A CLINICOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY OF 41 PATIENTS

Pathological findings in 41 patients (male/female ratio: 1.3/1) with p rimary localized gastric non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) were retrospecti vely studied and correlated with survival. The median observation peri od after diagnosis was 32 (0-189) months. Nineteen patients were low-g rade NHL, all but one B-cell lymphomas of the mucosa-associated lympho id tissue (MALT) type. Twenty-two patients had primary (n = 7) or seco ndary (n = 15) high-grade lymphomas; Musshoff stage IE was found in 29 and IIE in 12 cases. The median age at diagnosis was 61 years (range, 26-88 years), and proliferation, measured by the number of mitosis an d Ki-67 antigen positivity (MIB-1), was high or moderately high in 24 cases adn low in 17 cases. Follicular lymphatic hyperplasia could be f ound in 25 of 34 evaluable cases, more often in low-grade than high-gr ade NHL. Most of the patients were treated by resective surgery and ad ditional radio- or chemotherapy. Thirteen patients (31%) died (median survival: 10 months), 5 of them within 3 months after surgery owing to postoperative complications. Survival was superior, though not statis tically significant, in low-grade lymphomas. Our retrospective analysi s of heterogeneously treated gastric lymphomas reveals that gastric ly mphomas, especially of the low-grade MALT type, often remain a localiz ed disease with a good long-term prognosis. Our study confirms previou s reports indicating that lymphomas of the MALT type represent a speci fic clinicopathological entity.