[Primary gastric lymphoma: incidence, prognostic factors and effect of treatment with chemotherapy]

This paper deals with the prevalence, clinical features and therapeutic response of 19 patients with primary gastric lymphoma studied and treated at Centro de Hematologia y Medicina Interna de Puebla, Mexico and Instituto Nacional de la Nutricion Salvador Zubiran, Mexico City, Mexico, in a 10 year period (1979-1989). The main findings were as follows: 1) The prevalence of gastric lymphoma has increased in Mexico: Between 1950 and 1980 the prevalence was found at 4.5% of all gastric tumors, whereas between 1980 and 1990 it was found at the 7.6% level (chi square = .0001). 2) The significant prognostic factors for survival were in this series the clinico-pathologic stage and the degree of infiltration of the gastric wall: 80-month disease free survival was 80% and 44% respectively for stages I and III (p less than 0.02); 10-year disease free survival was 100% and 23% respectively for mucosal/submucosal infiltration VS mucosal/serosal infiltration (p less than 0.01). 3) The 10-year disease free survival was 68% for patients treated with chemotherapy and surgery; this figure is similar to those obtained using radiotherapy and surgery, but with a lower relapse rate. Two patients with lymphomatous lesion less than 3 cm. and invading only mucosae/submucosae were treated solely with chemotherapy and both of them remain disease free after 20 months of follow-up.