Abstract
Abstract only
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Background: Primary non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) of the colon is rare. There are no randomized controlled trials describing treatment outcomes for this tumor. We provide the largest descriptive study of this tumor to date.
Methods: Retrospective analysis of 109 patients diagnosed with primary non-Hodgkin lymphoma of the colon from 1995 to 2008 was done via the Veteran's Affairs Central Cancer Registry. By definition, all cases presented with a lymphomatous involvement of the colon as the first manifestation of their disease with no previous diagnosis of NHL of any type or site. Demographic, staging, histology, treatment, and outcome data was recorded. Lymphomas were classified as aggressive versus indolent based on their histology.
Results: There were 36,260 colon cancers diagnosed in 1995-2008 of which 109 (0.3%) were primary non-Hodgkin colon lymphomas. The median age of diagnosis was 67 years. 55 pts had aggressive disease, 27 pts had indolent disease, and 27 pts had inadequate histological data. Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (73%) was the most common aggressive lymphoma whereas it was marginal zone (56%) in the indolent group. The indolent group had 5- year survival rate of 76.9% compared to 48.6% for the aggressive group. Both groups had received different treatment regimens as seen in the Table with variable mean survival outcomes.
Conclusions: Our data suggests addition of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy appears superior to surgery alone in the treatment of aggressive disease whereas it does not appear to provide any benefit in the treatment of indolent disease. However, patient numbers are too small to draw definite conclusions and warrant future investigation in multinational randomized fashion.
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No significant financial relationships to disclose.