Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma

--Glass AG, Karnell LH, Menck HR. The national cancer data base report on non-hodgkin's lymphoma. Cancer 1997; 80:2311-20 (!)

This report's 91,306 cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), diagnosed between 1985 and 1993, represent the largest contemporary sample of patients with this disease. Analysis of case characteristics and treatment indicated that high grade NHL's were more likely to be stage IV (40.8%) than were low or intermediate grade cases (34.8% and 32.5%, respectively). NHL's arising from lymph node sites tended to present with more advanced disease (55.8% being stage III and IV), while extranodal sites and non-lymph-node nodal sites presented at an earlier stage (with 64.7% and 74.0%, respectively, being stage I or II). Two-thirds of all patients underwent chemotherapy, while only one-fourth underwent surgery or radiation. Five-year, disease-specific survival was 68.8% for low, 51.9% for intermediate, and 45.8% for high grade cases. For stage, survival rates ranged from 73.5% for stage I to 42.9% for stage IV cases. The Working Formulation's ability to stratify patients' survival rates confirms its utility for NHL; AJCC stage was also accurate in predicting survival.

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