Objective: To study the clinical characteristics,treatment and prognosis of primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of small bowel.
Methods: The records of 34 patients with a confirmed diagnosis of primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of small bowel, registered between Jan. 1996 and Dec. 2005 at our hospital, were retrieved and analysed retrospectively.
Results: Twenty-seven patients had B-cell lymphoma and 7 had T-cell lymphoma of the small bowel. The major symptoms included abdominal pain and intestinal obstruction. According to Ann Arbor staging classification, 22 patients belonged to stage I~II, including 20 cases of B-cell lymphoma and 2 cases of T-cell lymphoma, and 12 patients belonged to stage III~IV, including 7 cases of B-cell lymphoma and 5 cases of T-cell lymphoma. Compared with T-cell lymphoma patients, B-cell lymphoma patients had lower lymphoma stages (P<0.05). Twenty-seven patients were treated with surgical resection. Fourteen patients were treated with six cycles of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone (CHOP) chemotherapy, and 8 patients were treated with Rituximab at the same time. T-cell lymphoma patients were more often treated with emergent operation than B-cell lymphoma patients would (P<0.05). It happened more frequently that B-cell lymphoma patients reached complete remission and their accumulative survival rate was longer than T-cell lymphoma patients did (P<0.05).
Conclusion: Patients with stages I and II B-cell lymphoma of small bowel respond well to surgery and chemotherapy, and the treatment and prognosis of patients with T-cell lymphoma of small bowel are unsatisfactory.