A prospective pilot study of 23 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma involving the stomach was undertaken to assess the efficacy of surgical resection followed by chemotherapy with adjuvant cyclical cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisolone (CVP) in early stage disease, and cyclical cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisolone, and doxorubicin (CHOP) in advanced disease. One of 18 evaluable patients died postoperatively; 17 of 18 completed therapy and are alive and disease-free at a median follow-up of 41 months after surgery (range, 5 to 111 months), including four patients with stage IV disease who remain in complete remission 19 to 47 months after surgery. There was one postoperative death, giving an actuarial survival rate of 94% in the study group. Three of five inoperable patients were treated with CHOP, with two achieving complete remission. Two untreated patients died. Overall actuarial disease-free survival was 82.6%. Surgical resection plus chemotherapy is capable of producing long-term remission and cure in both localized and advanced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the stomach. Intensive supportive care plus chemotherapy may salvage a proportion of patients with inoperable tumors.
A long-lasting third complete remission after second autologous transplant followed by maintenance treatment with rituximab in a patient with diffuse large cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma