Clinical Research on Burkitt Lymphoma—a Single-Center Report in China

Objectives

To analysis the clinical characteristics and discuss the factors that influence the treatment efficacy and prognosis of the patients with Burkitt lymphoma (BL).

Patients and Methods

A retrospective study was performed to collect the clinical characteristics and follow-up data of the patients with BL from January 2004 to December 2014 in West China Hospital.

Results

A total of 42 patients with BL included 32 male patients and 10 female ones,with a median age at diagnosis of 45 yr (range: 13 to 74 yr) old. In the whole cohort, 66.67% of the patients had an Ann Arbor stage III`‡W. Patients with B symptoms accounted for 50.00%. Gastrointestinal discomfort and axillary, jugular and mandibular mass were the main complaints.

Twenty patients received Hyper-CVAD/HD-MTX-Ara-C regimen (Hyper regimen), while the other 22 patients received non-Hyper regimen, which included CHOP/CHOP-like, CODOX-M/IVAC regimen and others. The 42 cases showed an overall response of 59.52%, with a complete response (CR) rate of 57.14% (24/42).

With univariate analysis: the CR rates of the patients received Hyper regimen and non-Hyper regimen were 75.00% and 40.91%, respectively, indicating a statistical significance between the two groups (P=0.027); the CR rate of the patients with elevated LDH was higher than the patients with normal LDH; the CR rate of patients with ECOG PS of 0`2 was higher than the patients with PS 3`4; the CR rate of the patients with IPI of 0`2 was higher than the patients with IPI of 3`5; for the patients whose LDH increased, the CR rate of the patients received Hyper regimen was higher than the patients with non-Hyper regimen. The OS of the patients who received Hyper regimen was better; the OS of the patients with ECOG of 0`2 was superior to that with ECOG of 3`4; the OS of the patients with IPI of 0`2 is better than that of 3`5; the OS of the patients with Ann Arbor stage of ±`II was higher than that of III`‡W; the OS of the patients who acquired CR was better than that did not; the OS of the patients without bone marrow involvement was superior to that with it.

In multivariate analysis: treatment regimen was of significance in predicting the probability of CR, whereas treatment regimen and IPI score were confirmed as being highly predictive for OS.

The main side reactions of the 20 cases who accepted Hyper regimen were hematologic toxicity of III`‡W degree, gastrointestinal discomforts and infections, and there was no treatment-related mortality occurred.

Conclusions:

Hyper regimen could improve the CR rate and prolong the survival of BL patients, and the adverse reactions could well be tolerated.