Primary gastrointestinal tract lymphomas

Aim : To evaluate the prognostic factors and treatment modalities affecting survival in patients with primary gastrointestinal tract lymphoma. Material and Methods : Gastrointestinal tract lymphoma patients were retrospectively studied. Age and sex of patients, location and histopathological grade of turnout, stage of disease, extent of surgical resection and chemotherapy were evaluated as prognostic factors. Effects of clinicopathological and treatment associated factors on disease-free and overall survival were calculated in univariate and multivariate analyses. Results : On univariate analysis, disease stage (p = 0.002), extent of surgical resection (p = 0.003) and chemotherapy (p = 0.001) were found to be significantly affecting overall survival and none of the studied factors were found to be related with disease-free survival. Multivariate analysis revealed that grade of the tumour (p = 0.042) and chemotherapy (p = 0.028) significantly affected disease-free survival and disease stage (p = 0.013) and chemotherapy (p = 0.0003) were independent prognostic factors for overall survival. In addition, surgery and chemotherapy in combination, significantly increased overall survival compared to surgery or chemotherapy only. Conclusion : Early stage patients have a better survival and it could be prolonged if surgery with no residual disease is performed; adjuvant chemotherapy provides an additional benefit.