Clinical Outcome of 119 Children with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma Treated in a Single Center in China

One hundred and nineteen children with non-Hodgkin lymphoma were treated between February 2003 and December 2006 in Beijing Children’s Hospital on BCH-2003-NHL protocol. The diagnosis was made by histopathology of the biopsied tissue and/or bone marrow, and disease was classified according to WHO-2001 pathologic classification. We applied modified LMB89 protocol to cases with B-cell lymphoma; modified BFM90-ALL protocol for lymphoblastic lymphoma and cutaneous T-cell/NK cell lymphoma; and modified BFM90-ALCL protocol for anaplastic large-cell lymphoma (ALCL). There were 50 cases (42%) of B cell lymphoma including 32 cases of Burkitt¡’s lymphoma, 10 cases of Burkitt-like lymphoma and 8 cases of diffuse large B cell lymphoma; 44 cases (37%) of lymphoblastic lymphoma; 19 cases (16%) of ALCL; and 6 cases (5%) of cutaneous T-cell/NK cell lymphoma. The 85 boys and 34 girls (ratio, 2.5:1) ranged in age from 2 to 15 years (median, 7.8 years) at diagnosis. B cell lymphoma typically presented as abdomen mass and acute abdomen; nasopharynx and tonsil were also common sites of involvement. Lymphoblastic lymphoma generally presented with mediastinal mass and bone marrow involvement. There was no typical presentation for ALCL. According to the St. Jude staging system, 19 cases had stage I–II, and 94 cases stage III–VI diseases (exclude 6 cases of cutaneous T-cell/NK cell lymphoma). Seven cases had CNS involvement and 25 cases involved bone marrow. The treatment duration was 2 to 8 months for B-cell lymphoma, 2.5 to 3 years for lymphoblastic lymphoma and 1 to 1.5 years for ALCL. The follow-up rate was 100% and median observation period was 23 months. The overall survival (OS) at 3 years was 90.7% and the 3-year event-free survival (EFS) estimate was 82.3%. For B-cell lymphoma, 3-year OS was 88.68% and 3-year EFS was 81.8%. For lymphoblastoma lymphoma, the rates were 89.3% and 69.4%, respectively. All cases of ALCL are alive with on undergoing treatment for relapse. Patients with ALCL achieved the best 3-year OS (100%) and had 3-year EFS of 94.2%. Grade 3 or 4 bone marrow suppression occurred in 97.5% of patients with B-cell lymphoma, 100% of those with lymphoblastic lymphoma and 89.5% of cases with ALCL. As of to date, 11 patients have died, the causes of death include infection (n=4), abandonment of therapy (n=6) and relapse (n=1). Univarate analysis showed that stage IV disease, failure to achieve complete remission after 3 months of treatment, and bulky mass are were associated with poor prognosis £all P values <0.05£©. In summary, we have achieved excellent treatment results using modified international protocols. Infection and financial problem remained the main reasons of treatment failure.