The influence of histologic type on survival in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Histologic groups in 231 cases of malignant lymphoma were correlated with survival data at 100 months from the time of initiation of the study. Patients in the first two decades of life fared comparably with adults, but those over 60 years of age showed a poorer survival trend. Seven favorable and four unfavorable histopathologic groups were found with collective median survivals of 83 and 16 months, respectively (P less than 0.001). The favorable group included three follicular classes (cleaved, mixed, and large noncleaved) and four diffuse classes (small lymphocytic, cleaved, Burkitt non-cleaved, and convoluted lymphocytic). The unfavorable group consisted of four diffuse classes (plasmacytoid lymphocytic, mixed, and small and large non-cleaved). The group of 88 patients with follicular lymphoma had significantly longer overall survival than the group of 143 patients with diffuse lymphomas. No significant differences in survival were noted within three grades of follicular involvement. The favorable and unfavorable diffuse lymphomas had collective median survivals of 82 and 16 months, respectively (P = 0.01). Significant survival differences due to pattern of nodal involvement (P = 0.01) were found in patients with mixed and large non-cleaved cell lymphomas, but not in those with cleaved cell lymphomas. The group with large cleaved cells had significantly longer survival than those with large non-cleaved cells. Patients with mixed and large non-cleaved cell lymphomas of the same nodal pattern had similar survival data.