Malignant lymphoma of the gastrointestinal tract.

OBJECTIVE

The gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is the most common site of extra-nodal lymphoma. Most of these lymphomas arise from mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT). We attempt in this study to define the natural history and treatment outcome of this type of lymphoma.

METHODS

We carried out a retrospective study of patients presenting at our centre with histopathological diagnosis of primary GIT lymphoma between 1990 and 1994.

RESULTS

Equal numbers of cases of stomach and small bowel lymphoma were found. Vomiting and feeling of fullness were the two most common presenting symptoms. Large cell type and high grade tumours were found to be the commonest histological types. All the patients were treated with surgery followed by chemotherapy. A 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate of 73%) was observed with a confidence interval of 0.65-1.35. Survival in stomach cancer was 73.5% (95% CI 0.26-1.74) while it was 76.4% in small bowel tumours (95% CI 0.54-1.46). The difference in survival was not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Although there is no consensus regarding treatment of primary GI lymphoma, surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy yield good survival.