Prognostic Significance of Clinicopathological and Immunophenotypic Properties of Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Patients

Abstract

Objective: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) accounts for approximately 30% of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in adults. In our study, the clinicopathological features of patients with DLBCL were evaluated retrospectively. Methods: The study included 43 patients with the diagnosis of DLBCL between 2009-2016. Clinical and histopathological features of the patients were collected from the archive of our hospital. Results: The mean age of the patients was 62.5 (23-86) years. Twenty-four of them (55.8%) were male and 19 (44.2%) were female. Twenty-five patients (58.1%) had B symptoms. Early stage (I and II) disease was seen in 21 (48.8%) patients, while advanced stage (III and 1V) disease was seen in 22 (51.2%) patients. Bone marrow involvement was present in 5 (11.6%) patients. Nodal involvement was present in 39.5% and extranodal involvement in 60.5% of the patients. The most commen involved node was cervical lymph node and the most involved extranodal site was gastrointestinal system and especially stomach. Immunohistochemically, BCL2 and BCL6, which had prognostic significance, were expressed as 46.5% (n=20) and 27.9% (n=12) of the cases, respectively. A significant relationship was found between Bcl6 protein expression and gender (p<0.001, almost all female patients) and extranodal involvement (p=0.009). The patients were in a low risk group with a rate of 58.1% and a high risk of 41.9% according to the İnternational Prognostic Index (IPI). Twenty-seven out of 43 patients exited. The mean survival rate was 37.2 percent. Conclusion: In this study, there was no correlation between the histopathological features and mean life span, but an inverse relationship was found with IPI score. In our study, clinical and immunophenotypic features and significant prognostic parameters of DBBHLs were emphasized.