Clinicopathological analysis and prognostic factors of 11 patients with primary non-Hodgkin lymphoma of the small intestine in a single institute

The gastrointestinal (GI) tract is the most common extranodal site of involvement in non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Primary GI NHL is frequently discussed in survival analyses. Primary intestinal NHL is significantly different from primary gastric NHL with regard to its clinical features, pathological subtype, treatment and prognosis. The small intestine is involved in lymphoma less often than the large intestine. The present study aimed to analyze the clinical and pathological characteristics of primary NHL of the small intestine and its prognostic factors. A retrospective analysis was performed on clinical data from 313 cases of NHL that occurred between 1995 and 2008 in the Tri-Service General Hospital (National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan). Among these cases, 11 cases of primary NHL of the small intestine were identified. A Cox model was used to perform the multivariate analysis. The Kaplan-Meier method was used for the survival analysis. From the 11 patients with primary NHL of the small intestine, seven patients were male (63.6%) and four patients were female (36.3%). Furthermore, nine patients (81.8%) were diagnosed with B-cell lymphoma, of which five (45.5%) were also diagnosed with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBL). Abdominal pain and/or distention were present in six (54.5%) of the patients and jejunum involvement was also observed in six (54.5%) of the 11 patients. The mean overall survival (OS) time of the 11 patients was 27.2 months and the four-year survival rate was 36.3%. The mean OS time in the patients with jejunum involvement was shorter than in those without jejunum involvement (16.9 vs. 39.6 months), although this difference was not significant (P=0.657). Surgical treatment was performed on four of the six patients with jejunum involvement due to an acute abdomen or perforation-related peritonitis. The results of the present study indicate that DLBL is the most common subtype of primary lymphoma of the small intestine, and that the site involved in NHL may affect the potential for surgery in patients with intestinal lymphoma. Furthermore, patients with primary lymphoma of the small intestine have been found to have a poor outcome compared with those with lymphoma in other regions of the GI tract. In the present study, a similar trend was observed, however, the sizes of the subgroups of primary lymphoma of the small intestine were too small for individual analysis.