Extranodal marginal zone non Hodgkin's lymphoma of the lung: A ten-year experience

Abstract

Background/Aim. Bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) lymphoma is a rare subtype of low grade marginal zone B cell lymphoma representing 10% of all MALT lymphomas. The purpose of this study was to analyze the outcome of this group of patients comparing prognostic parameters and therapy modalities. Methods. A total of eight patients with BALT lymphoma had diagnosed between January 1998 - April 2008 at the Institute of Hematology, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, and they were included in this retrospective analysis. Results. Male/female ratio was 2/6, the median age was 64 years (range 37-67 years). Six patients had nonspecific respiratory symptoms and all of them had B symptoms. The patients were seronegative for HIV, HCV and HBsAg. Three patients had Sjogren's syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and pulmonary tuberculosis, respectively. Seven patients were diagnosed by transbronchial biopsy and an open lung biopsy was done in one patient. Patohistological findings revealed lymphoma of marginal zone B cell lymphoma: CD20+/CD10-/CD5-/CyclinD1- /CD23-/IgM- with Ki-67+<20% of all cells. According to the Ferraro staging system, five patients had localized disease (CS I-IIE) and three had stage IVE; bulky tumor mass had 3 patients. All patients had Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status (PS) 0 or 1. Five patients received monochemotherapy with chlorambucil and 3 were treated with CHOP regimen (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone). A complete response (CR) was achieved in 5 patients and a partial response (PR) in 3 of them, treated with chlorambucil monotherapy and CHOP regimen. All patients were alive during a median follow-up period of 49 months (range 6- 110 months). Three patients relapsed after monochemotherapy into the other extranodal localization. They were treated with CHOP regimen and remained in stable PR. Conclusion. BALT lymphoma tends to be localised disease at the time of diagnosis, responds well to monochemotherapy with chlorambucil and has a favourable prognosis.