Abstract
Background: There is a paucity of data on pediatric nonblastic non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) from
developing countries. We conducted this study to study outcome and identify risk factors
that can predict survival in pediatric nonblastic NHL at our center. Methods: Patients <18 years of age who were diagnosed with nonlymphoblastic NHL at our hospital
from January 1, 2005, to December 31, 2014, were included. Data were collected retrospectively
from case records. Results: One hundred and two patients with median age of 12 years (range: 1–18) were included
in the study. There were 69/102 (68%) male and 33/102 (32%) female patients. The most
common histological diagnosis was Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) in 59/102 (58%) patients
followed by anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) in 28/102 (28%) patients and diffuse
large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in 12/102 (12%) patients, T-cell lymphoma in 2/102 patients,
and primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma in 1/102 patients. The LMB-89 protocol was
the most common protocol used for treatment in 74/102 (72%) patients. The 2-year event-free
survival (EFS) for patients with BL, ALCL, and DLBCL was 72%, 55.8%, and 27.5%, respectively
(P = 0.037). On univariate analysis, factors that significantly predicted poor EFS included
non-BL histological subtype, poor performance status, malnutrition, use of less intense
chemotherapy, and not achieving complete response on interim radiological assessment.
Conclusions: Outcomes in nonblastic NHL from our center are worse compared to data
from the west. This is because a large proportion of patients present with advanced
stage and in moribund condition. Patients with BL have better outcome compared to
other subtypes.
Keywords
Chemotherapy - non-Hodgkin lymphoma - survival
