Background:
Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) NOS is the most common histologic subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Double hit lymphoma is re-classified as high-grade B cell lymphoma, with and without MYC and BCL2 or BCL6 rearrangements (HGBCL) in 2016. The International Prognostic Index (IPI) is the main prognostic tool for DLBCL NOS. We aimed to identify if IPI index scores can accurately predict the prognosis in patients with HGBCL.
Methods:
We observed the outcome of a cohort of patients (pts) with DLBCL NOS and HGBCL diagnosed and treated from 2008-2019 at SUNY Upstate Medical University. Fisher's exact test was used for the 2X2 comparison analysis.
Results:
24 pts (82.8%) had DLBCL NOS and 5 (17.2%) pts had HGBCL. The median age was 58 yrs (13-81 yrs). 65.5% were males and 79.3% were caucasians. 8 pts had bone marrow involvement, 1 pt had brain metastasis and 12 pts had bulky disease. 15 DLBCL NOS pts (68.2%) and 4 HGBCL pts (80%) had low-intermediate IPI (</=3). 7 DLBCL NOS pts (31.8%) and 1 HGBCL pt (20%) had high IPI (>/=4). 2 DLBCL NOS pts (13.33%) vs 1 HGBCL pt (25%) died in the low-intermediate IPI group. None of the DLBCL NOS pts (0%) vs 1 HGBCL pt (100%) died in the high risk group.
Conclusion:
Our study sample size is very small to identify prognostic relation of IPI score to predict the outcome for HGBCL. Our observation raises the hypothesis that patient with HGBCL might have a worse prognosis despite low IPI score which needs to be validated in a larger study population.
No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Author notes
Asterisk with author names denotes non-ASH members.
