Treatment outcome, toxicity, and quality of life of patients with bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma

Abstract

The disease failure patterns and optimal treatment of bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue (BALT) lymphoma are unknown. This retrospective study involved 71 patients with primary BALT lymphoma who had received radiotherapy (RT), surgery, immunochemotherapy (IC), or observation. The median follow-up time was 66 months. The 5-year overall survival and lymphoma-specific survival were 91.2% and 96.1%, respectively, and were not significantly different among treatments. The 5-year cumulative incidence of overall failure for RT, surgery, IC, and observation was 0%, 9.7% (p = .160), 30.8% (p = .017), and 31.3% (p = .039). There was no grade ≥3 toxicity in RT group according to the CTCAE 5.0 reporting system. Quality of life (QoL) was at similarly good levels among the treatment groups. BALT lymphoma had a favorable prognosis but persistent risk of relapse after IC or observation. Given the very low disease failure risk and good QoL, RT remains an effective initial treatment for BALT lymphoma.

KEY POINTS

• BALT lymphoma has a favorable prognosis but a persistent progression and relapse risk.

• Radiotherapy is associated with lower failure of disease progression and relapse, low toxicity and good quality of life.

Keywords:

• BALT lymphoma
• radiotherapy
• immunochemotherapy
• failure
• quality of life

Author contributions

Y.X.L., S.Q. and L.G. designed the study and wrote the manuscript; L.G. analyzed the data and made the figures; all authors contributed to data collection and interpretation, and finally approved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research received no external funding.