[T-zone lymphoma--clinical symptoms, therapy, and prognosis (author's transl)]

The clinical symptoms, response to therapy, and prognosis of T-zone lymphoma were analyzed in 32 cases. This recently defined lymphoma entity developed relatively quickly with generalized lymphadenopathy and general malaise. Hepatomegaly and/or splenomegaly and skin efflorescence were frequent presenting symptoms. A few patients showed hyperimmune reactions and occasionally severe autoimmune hemolytic anemia. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate was usually markedly elevated. There was sometimes a polyclonal increase in serum immunoglobulin, sometimes a reduction. Blood and bone marrow smears from a few patients showed occasional atypical lymphocytes. A remarkable finding was the frequent involvement of lung or pleura (40.5% of the patients). The prognosis is unfavorable. Most of the patients were in stages III or IV at the time of diagnosis. Massive infiltration of organs, resistance to routine therapy, and decreasing resistance to infection resulted in death soon after diagnosis. The probability of survival was 0.48 in the first year after diagnosis. The prognosis for patients in stages I and II was clearly better than that for patients in stages III and IV.