Outcomes of 104 children with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Objective: To analyze outcomes and prognostic factors of children with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL).

Methods: One hundred and four newly diagnosed B-NHL children were enrolled in protocol of B-NHL 2001. The statistics were performed by SPSS 13.0.

Results: Of 104 children (79 males, the median age of 7.1 years), 60, 32 and 4 patients were diagnosed with Burkitt lymphoma, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and unclassifiable B-cell lymphoma, respectively. Four patients were in stage Ⅰ, 27 stage Ⅱ, 55 stage Ⅲ and 18 stage Ⅳ; 1, 26 and 77 patients were allocated into R1, R2 and R3 risk groups, respectively. Three patients never got complete remission (CR), 9 patients relapsed after CR with the duration of relapse from 1 to 7 months after chemotherapy. The estimated 5-year EFS of 104 patients was (86.7 ± 3.5)%. Univariable analyses identified that risk factors for recurrence were of higher staging, elevated LDH, serum ferritin and poor early response. Age, sex, pathologic diagnosis, original tumor, bone or marrow involvement, C-MYC and risk group were not found to be associated with the risk of failure to treatment. Multivariable COX regression models confirmed serum ferritin as a significant independent prognostic marker.

Conclusions: B-NHL 2001 protocol was reasonable for B-NHL children. Higher staging, elevated LDH, serum ferritin and poor early response increased risk for recurrence.