Peripheral T-cell lymphoma: a clinicopathologic study of 42 cases

We analysed the clinical and pathologic features of 42 patients with immunologically confirmed peripheral T-cell lymphoma. The median age was 60 years and the male to female ratio was 1:1. A prior lymphoproliferative or autoimmune disorder was present in 14 per cent of the patients. Signs of advanced disease were usually present from the onset, such as B symptoms (55 per cent), generalized lymphadenopathy (57 per cent), stage III/IV disease (62 per cent), and elevated levels of serum lactate dehydrogenase (68 per cent). Primary extranodal disease (14 per cent), hepatomegaly (12 per cent), splenomegaly (12 per cent), lung/pleural involvement (12 per cent), skin involvement (21 per cent), and bone marrow involvement (28 per cent) were uncommon. Lymphocytopenia was present in 64 per cent of the patients, and none of nine patients tested were serologically positive for human T-cell leukemia/lymphoma virus (HTLV-I) infection. Among 38 patients receiving combination chemotherapy, 20 (53 per cent) achieved a complete remission. The actuarial median survival of all patients was 17 months. Age greater than 60 years and stage III/IV disease predicted a poor clinical outcome, whereas the large cell histological subtype predicted a favourable outcome. Prospective clinical studies using uniform treatments and a uniform histologic classification scheme are needed to confirm these findings.