Clinical characteristics and treatment outcome of infants with non‐Hodgkin lymphoma

Abstract

Summary Non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is rarely observed during infancy and data on its incidence, characteristics and outcome are scarce. The present study aimed to assess the prevalence, clinical presentation and treatment results of all infants who were diagnosed with NHL between October 1986 and December 2002 among 2084 patients treated according to the NHL‐BFM (Berlin‐Frankfurt‐Münster) multicentre trials 86, 90 and 95. We identified 20 (1%) infants with NHL including five with T‐cell lymphoblastic lymphoma (T‐cell LBL), seven with precursor B‐cell LBL (pB‐cell LBL), two with a mature Burkitt neoplasm, five with anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) and one with peripheral T‐cell lymphoma (PTCL). The PTCL patient, 3/7 pB‐cell LBL and 1/5 ALCL patients relapsed. One patient each from the T‐cell LBL and Burkitt lymphoma groups suffered from a second malignancy and one patient each with ALCL and Burkitt leukaemia died from treatment‐related toxicity. The 5‐year event‐free survival rate was 53 ± 12% for the 20 cases. This study has provided preliminary evidence that infants with NHL have a dismal prognosis and showed that infant NHL differed to lymphomas in older patients with respect to the distribution of gender, histopathologic subtypes as well as the ratio of T‐ to pB‐cell LBL and the frequency of relapses of pB‐cell LBL.

Relapsed or Refractory Lymphoblastic Lymphoma in Children: Results and Analysis of 23 Patients in the EORTC 58951 and the LMT96 Protocols

“…[13,14] Mann et al reported three patients with late relapses at 1.6, 3, and 4 years, and only two survived. [15] We report a majority of local relapses, and only a few BM relapses, as described in other studies: EORTC 58881, BFM 90-95, LSA2L2, and POG 8704 trials. [14,16] The rate of CNS relapses described in our study is low (only three patients), as reported in the previous EORTC 58881 protocol without CNS prophylactic irradiation.…”

“…It will allow early adjustment of front‐line treatment. Risk factors have been identified for ALL, but the situation is not as clear for lymphomas . Baleydier et al.…”

A Primary Systemic ALCL Present Initially as Cutaneous Localized Skin Lesions

“…The median age at diagnosis for pediatric patients is approximately 10.2-11.0 years, [7][8][9] and systemic ALCL rarely occurs in infants. [9][10][11][12] Most patients with ALKnegative ALCL are adults (age range, 40-65 years), with a slight male predominance. 13 In the pediatric age group (fewer than 10%), ALK-negative ALCL is limited to single case reports or small numbers of patients in larger series.…”

Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma in a Patient With Cardiofaciocutaneous Syndrome

“…20 The precise incidence of NHL in children is not known and the development of NHL in the early infantile period is rare. 21 It is possible that our patient developed NHL at 2 months of age owing to having the germline mutation in the proto-oncogene BRAF.…”