Clinical Features and Outcomes of Primary Breast Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma: A Matched-Pair Study

The influence of the breast as the primary site on the outcome of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and further changes in therapeutic strategies remain unclear. We aimed to compare the outcomes between primary breast and non-breast DLBCL and analyze the genetic profiles of some of the study cohorts using next-generation sequencing.

This matched-pair study reviewed the medical records of 19 patients with stage I and II primary breast DLBCL diagnosed between January 2005 and December 2021 on the basis of the Wiseman and Liao criteria, and we used 1:4 propensity score matching to identify patients with non-breast DLBCL as the control group. The overall response rate, progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) were the outcome measures.

Patients with primary breast and non-breast DLBCL had a 5-year PFS of 72.6% and 86.9%, respectively (P = .206). These 2 groups also had comparable 5-year OS (86.9% vs 87.8%; P = .772). The breast as the primary site was not associated with inferior PFS (hazard ratio [HR]: 2.14; 95% CI: 0.66-6.96; P = .206) and OS (HR: 1.26; 95% CI: 0.27-5.93; P = .772).

Patients with primary breast DLBCL and those with non-breast DLBCL had comparable PFS and OS under rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP) or R-CHOP-like regimens. Further investigations of the mutation profile, its clinical impact, potential central nervous system relapse, and prognosis of primary breast DLBCL are required.