Primary testicular lymphoma

Abstract

We evaluated clinical features, management and survival of 12 patients with primary testicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma presented to our hematology unit between January 1992 and July 2006, retrospectively. The median age of patients was 47 years at presentation (range 29-78 years) and > 80% of them were < 50 years old. In the majority of cases, orchidectomy was performed as diagnostic and first-line therapeutic procedures. Dominant histological subtype was diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Seven patients out of 12 (58%) were Ann Arbor stages I and II, and the remaining five patients (42%) were stages III and IV. All the patients received doxorubicin-based chemotherapy and achieved complete remission. The addition of rituximab and central nervous system prophylaxis with intrathecal combined chemotherapy containing methotrexate, cytarabine and dexametasone were applied to three patients who were recently admitted. The rate of relapse was 8% and progression-free survival (PFS) at 10 years was 88%. Median duration of response was 84 months (range 14-173 months), median 97.5 months of follow-up. All patients are alive and in case remission. Because of the spreading nature and relapse probability at different sites, including central nervous system and contralateral testis, systemic treatment with doxorubicin-based chemotherapy with or without prophylaxis for contralateral testis and the central nervous system seems to improve the outcome of primary testicular lymphoma.