Characteristics of malignant lymphoma in eastern Taiwan: comparison between aborigines and nonaborigines

To study the characteristics of malignant lymphoma in aboriginal and nonaboriginal patients in eastern Taiwan, the records of 90 patients treated from July 1986 to September 1994 were reviewed. Immunohistologic staining with UCHL-1 and L-26 was used to determine immunophenotype. There were 20 aboriginal and 70 nonaboriginal patients (22% vs 78%). Among them, three had Hodgkin's diseases (HD) and 87 had non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL). Comparing the histology of malignant lymphoma in aboriginal and nonaboriginal patients, there was no case of HD or follicular lymphoma in aborigines. Concerning primary extranodal lymphoma, no aboriginal patients were found to have gastric lymphoma, while eight nonaboriginal patients did. Among patients with intermediate and high-grade NHL, aboriginal patients had a higher rate of B symptoms (weight loss, fever, night sweats) than did nonaboriginal patients. In T cell lymphoma, three out of four (75%) aboriginal patients had angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy with dysproteinemia as compared with three out of 20 (15%) nonaboriginal patients. There were no significant differences in demographic data, stage or distribution of immunophenotype between the two groups. Several combination chemotherapy regimens were used and only 31 patients were considered evaluable, of which 12 were aboriginal and 19 were nonaboriginal patients. No distinct difference was found between aboriginal and nonaboriginal patients in overall response rate, complete response rate, disease-free survival or overall survival. Comparison of our results with other lymphoma studies in Taiwan revealed that the frequencies of HD and follicular lymphoma were higher in northern Taiwan studies than in southern and eastern Taiwan studies, and the frequency of primary extranodal lymphoma was much higher in eastern Taiwan than in other areas. While the rate of T cell lymphoma in NHL for nonaboriginal patients was similar to that of northern Taiwan studies, it was closer to that of southern Taiwan studies in aboriginal patients.