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Children and adolescents with follicular lymphoma have an excellent prognosis with either limited chemotherapy or with a “watch and wait” strategy after complete resection

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Abstract

Data on clinical features and outcome in pediatric follicular lymphoma (pFL) are scarce. The aim of this retrospective study including 13 EICNHL and/or i-BFM study group members was to assess clinical characteristics and course in a series of 63 pFL patients. pFL was found to be associated with male gender (3:1), older age (72 % ≥10 years old), low serum LDH levels (<500 U/l in 75 %), grade 3 histology (in 88 %), and limited disease (87 % stage I/II disease), mostly involving the peripheral lymph nodes. Forty-four out of sixty-three patients received any polychemotherapy and 1/63 rituximab only, while 17/63 underwent a “watch and wait” strategy. Of 36 stage I patients, 30 had complete resections. Only one patient relapsed; 2-year event-free survival and overall survival were 94 ± 5 and 100 %, respectively, after a median follow-up of 2.2 years. Conclusively, treatment outcome in pFL seems to be excellent with risk-adapted chemotherapy or after complete resection and an observational strategy only.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all participating institutions and physicians for their support of the study. This EICNHL and i-BFM paper was written on behalf of the Berlin–Frankfurt–Münster (BFM) study group (Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic), Associazione Italiana Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica (AIEOP), UK Children's Cancer and Leukemia study group (CCLG), Nordic Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (NOPHO), Belgian Society of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Dutch Childhood Oncology Group (DCOG), Hungarian Pediatric Oncology Network, Japanese Pediatric Leukemia/Lymphoma study group (JPLSG), and Hong Kong Pediatric Hematology and Oncology study group (HKPHOSG). This work was supported by the Cancer Research UK, the Forschungshilfe Station Peiper (BFM Germany), the St. Anna Kinderkrebsforschung (BFM Austria), the Czech Ministry of Health supported projects for conceptual development of research organization 00064203 and 65269705 (BFM Czech Republic), the Associazione Italiana Contro le Leucemie and Fondazione Citta della Speranza (AIEOP), and the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan (JPLSG).

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, St. Anna Children’s Hospital, Kinderspitalgasse 6, 1090, Vienna, Austria

    Andishe Attarbaschi & Georg Mann

  2. Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Erasmus MC—Sophia Children’s Hospital, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

    Auke Beishuizen

  3. Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

    Angelo Rosolen

  4. National Hospital Organization Nagoya Medical Center, Aichi, Japan

    Tetsuya Mori

  5. Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Anne Uyttebroeck

  6. Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland

    Felix Niggli

  7. Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary

    Monika Csoka

  8. Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital, Brno, Czech Republic

    Zdenka Krenova

  9. Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, The Queen Silvia’s Hospital for Children and Adolescents, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Karin Mellgren

  10. Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic

    Edita Kabickova

  11. Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

    Alan KS Chiang

  12. Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany

    Alfred Reiter & Birgit Burkhardt

  13. Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Cambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, UK

    Denise Williams

  14. Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany

    Birgit Burkhardt

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  1. Andishe Attarbaschi
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  2. Auke Beishuizen
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  3. Georg Mann
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  15. Birgit Burkhardt
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on behalf of the European Intergroup for Childhood Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (EICNHL) and the international Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster (i-BFM) Study Group

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Correspondence to Andishe Attarbaschi.

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Attarbaschi, A., Beishuizen, A., Mann, G. et al. Children and adolescents with follicular lymphoma have an excellent prognosis with either limited chemotherapy or with a “watch and wait” strategy after complete resection. Ann Hematol 92, 1537–1541 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00277-013-1785-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00277-013-1785-2

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