Prognostic value of mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue International Prognostic Index in Chinese patients with mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma

Objective：To explore the applicability of mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) International Prognostic Index (MALT-IPI) in Chinese patients with MALT lymphoma and compare the prognostic value of different risk stratification methods for MALT lymphoma. Methods：A total of 129 patients with MALT lymphoma diagnosed and treated in Zhongshan Hospital, Fudan University between January 2007 and December 2016 were analyzed retrospectively. Survival analysis was performed according to the MALT IPI and IPI scoring system. Results：The median age of patients was 56 years old (range, 22-82 years old). Fifty-three patients (41.1%) had gastric MALT lymphoma. Lung involvement was found in 25.6% cases. More than half of patients presented with limited stage disease (71 patients stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ, 55.1%) at diagnosis, and the remaining 58 (44.9%) patients were in stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ. The median follow-up period was 26 months (range, 1-378 months). The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate and 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate were 90.23% and 69.41%, respectively. For IPI scoring system, the 5-year PFS rate in low-, low-intermediate-, high-intermediate/high-risk groups were 74.8%, 65.2%, and 58.2%, respectively (P=0.125); while for the MALT-IPI model, the 5-year PFS rate in low-, intermediate-, high-risk groups for MALT-IPI were 82.4%, 58.4%, and 47.2%, respectively (P=0.003). Conclusions：MALT-IPI is suitable for Chinese MALT lymphoma patients. In comparison with IPI, MALT-IPI would be a more proper prognostic index for the prediction of OS and PFS in patients with MALT lymphoma.