Gastric and non-gastric marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue: A single-center experience.

Extranodal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) is a distinct lymphoma with specific clinical and pathological features that occurs in diverse anatomic locations. We conducted this retrospective study to demonstrate our experience in patients with MALT lymphomas and compare our results with the literature. We studied 23 patients with histologically confirmed diagnosis of MALT lymphomas (12 with gastric, 11 with non-gastric localization) treated during the past 13 years. The female/male ratio of patients was 15/8 with a median age at presentation of 56 years (range 27-88 years). 16 patients (70%) with stage I and II, 7 patients (30%) with stage III and IV were admitted. At presentation 93% of patients had good performance status (ECOG<2) and 5 (22%) had B-symptoms. There was no difference between gastric and non-gastric MALT lymphomas when compared with sex, age, ECOG performance status, stage of the disease. Patients were treated with different treatment modality; H. Pylori eradication only (8.6%), radiotherapy only (21.7%), surgery alone (4.%) or followed by radiotherapy (26%) or chemotherapy (21.7%). All the patients are alive with a median 33 months (range 8-153 months) of follow-up and the 5- year PFS in gastric lymphoma and non-gastric lymphoma were 86% and 84% respectively with no statistical difference (p=0.5). Because of the indolent course the prognosis of MALT lymphoma was good regardless of the treatment modalities. The treatment choice should be patient-tailored, taking into account the site, stage, age and other clinical characteristic of patient.