Annals of Hematology

, Volume 92, Issue 11, pp 1537–1541 | Cite as

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

  • Andishe Attarbaschi
  • Auke Beishuizen
  • Georg Mann
  • Angelo Rosolen
  • Tetsuya Mori
  • Anne Uyttebroeck
  • Felix Niggli
  • Monika Csoka
  • Zdenka Krenova
  • Karin Mellgren
  • Edita Kabickova
  • Alan KS Chiang
  • Alfred Reiter
  • Denise Williams
  • Birgit Burkhardt
  • on behalf of the European Intergroup for Childhood Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (EICNHL) and the international Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster (i-BFM) Study Group
Original Article
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Accepted:

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.

Keywords

Follicular lymphoma Complete resection “Watch and wait” Outcome 
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Notes

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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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Andishe Attarbaschi
    • 1
  • Auke Beishuizen
    • 2
  • Georg Mann
    • 1
  • Angelo Rosolen
    • 3
  • Tetsuya Mori
    • 4
  • Anne Uyttebroeck
    • 5
  • Felix Niggli
    • 6
  • Monika Csoka
    • 7
  • Zdenka Krenova
    • 8
  • Karin Mellgren
    • 9
  • Edita Kabickova
    • 10
  • Alan KS Chiang
    • 11
  • Alfred Reiter
    • 12
  • Denise Williams
    • 13
  • Birgit Burkhardt
    • 12
    • 14
  • on behalf of the European Intergroup for Childhood Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (EICNHL) and the international Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster (i-BFM) Study Group
  1. 1.Pediatric Hematology and OncologySt. Anna Children’s HospitalViennaAustria
  2. 2.Pediatric Hematology and OncologyErasmus MC—Sophia Children’s HospitalRotterdamThe Netherlands
  3. 3.Pediatric Hematology and OncologyUniversity of PadovaPadovaItaly
  4. 4.National Hospital Organization Nagoya Medical CenterAichiJapan
  5. 5.Pediatric Hematology and OncologyUniversity of LeuvenLeuvenBelgium
  6. 6.Pediatric Hematology and OncologyUniversity HospitalZurichSwitzerland
  7. 7.Pediatric Hematology and OncologySemmelweis UniversityBudapestHungary
  8. 8.Pediatric Hematology and OncologyUniversity HospitalBrnoCzech Republic
  9. 9.Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, The Queen Silvia’s Hospital for Children and AdolescentsUniversity of GothenburgGothenburgSweden
  10. 10.Pediatric Hematology and OncologyUniversity HospitalPragueCzech Republic
  11. 11.Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Li Ka Shing Faculty of MedicineThe University of Hong Kong, Queen Mary HospitalPokfulamHong Kong
  12. 12.Pediatric Hematology and OncologyJustus Liebig UniversityGiessenGermany
  13. 13.Pediatric Hematology and OncologyCambridge University Hospitals Foundation Trust, Addenbrooke’s HospitalCambridgeUK
  14. 14.Pediatric Hematology and OncologyUniversity of MünsterMünsterGermany

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