Primary bone lymphoma: experience with 52 patients.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES A retrospective analysis was performed to assess the efficacy of various treatments of non-Hodgkin's primary bone lymphomas (PBL). DESIGN AND METHODS Fifty-two consecutive, previously untreated PBL patients were seen between the years 1982 and 1998. Information was obtained regarding each patient's presentation and clinical course. Histology was reviewed in all cases. Modern immunohistochemical stains were performed on each case. RESULTS Regarding therapeutic approach, we observed a complete response (CR) in 35/41 (85%) patients treated with chemotherapy with/without radiation therapy and in 7/11 (64%) patients who received radiation therapy alone. Relapses were observed in only 2/35 (6%) patients after chemotherapy (with/without radiation therapy), as compared with 4/7 (57%) patients after radiation therapy alone (p = 0.004); the relapse-free survival curves of these two subsets were significantly different. At both univariate and multivariate analysis only type of front-line therapeutic approach (chemotherapy with/without radiation therapy vs. radiation therapy alone) turned out to have a significant prognostic influence. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS Our data indicate that in PBL use of chemotherapy or combined-modality therapy seems to provide more durable CRs than radiation therapy alone.