Background & objective: T-cell Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) are common in Asia, It's biological behavior is different from B-cell NHL. It often shows lower chemo-sensitivity, high incidence of relapse and poor prognosis. This study was designed to analyse the clinical characteristics and to evaluate the effectiveness and toxicity of standard CHOP regimen in the treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphomas-unspecified (PTCL-U) according to the Revised European- American Lymphoma (REAL) classification.
Methods: 106 patients with PTCL-U were treated by standard CHOP regimen with or without involved field radiotherapy from January 1997 to December 2003 in Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University, The clinical characteristics, response and long-term survival rates were analysed, retrospectively.
Results: Early stages (I-II) were present in 78.3% (83/106) of the patients. Extranodal involvement account for 84.0% (89/106) with 34.9% (37/106) of more than 1 involved extranodal sites. The percentage of IPI score 0-1 was 78.3% (83/106). All the patients were treated by standard CHOP regimen plus IFRT for bulky disease. 55.7% (59/106) patients were treated by chemotherapy alone and 43.3% (46/106) were treated by chemotherapy plus radiotherapy. The overall response rate was 81.0% (85/105) with 58.2%(65/105) complete remission (CR) rates. The response rate of chemotherapy alone were 69.5% (41/59) and CR rates was 44.1% (26/59). The median duration of response was 16 months (1-88 months). The actual 1, 3 and 5 year overall survival rates were 69.9%, 42.9% and 22.0%, respectively. Median survival times were 24 (12-36) months.
Conclusion: Long-term survival of PTCL-U treated by standard CHOP regimen were poor. Further investigation is wanted.