Abstract
Marginal zone lymphoma (MZL) is a slowly progressing subtype of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL). There are four subtypes: extranodal MZL of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT lymphoma), nodal MZL, splenic MZL, and primary cutaneous MZL. Due to its heterogeneity and rarity, treatment management in MZL has not been clearly defined. In this study, clinical features and survival data of 36 patients with MZL were examined. The mean total follow-up period of the patients was 64.5 months. Follow-up periods ranged from 6 to 240 months. Thirty-two (88.8%) of the patients were alive. The median OS was 54 months. There were 4 patients (11.1%) who died and 22 (61%) patients who had relapsed. The median PFS was 45 months. Sixteen (44.5%) patients received CHOP or R-CHOP, 13 (36.1%) patients received weekly rituximab, 3 (8.3%) patients received rituximab-bendamustine. When treatment responses were evaluated, complete response was found in 22 (61.1%) patients, stable disease in 9 (25%) and partial response in 5 (13.9%). No progressive disease was observed in the response evaluation performed at the end of the first-line treatment. In our study, the effects of variables such as age, gender, stage, MALT-IPI score, treatment response, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), β2-microglobulin, albumin, bone marrow infiltration at the time of diagnosis, liver involvement and non-hematopoietic area involvement on survival were examined. No significant effects were found (p>0.05). MALT-IPI score (p=0.029) and β2-microglobulin elevation (p=0.041) were found to be risk factors with adverse effects on PFS according to univariate survival analysis. According to the results of multivariate analysis, no statistically significant effects on survival were found (p>0.05). MALT-IPI score can be used to predict disease prognosis, but according to the results obtained from our study, adding β2-microglobulin to this score may be considered. Evaluating MZL subtypes separately will reduce the difficulty in interpreting results due to patient heterogeneity.