Clinico-pathologic correlation in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. IV. Analysis of patients with clinically localized disease.

A retrospective analysis of 140 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in clinical stage I or II classified according to a modified LUKES & COLLINS scheme was performed. Three major groups were found according to cell type, with different clinical features: (1) Small cell lymphomas with a relatively favourable survival in spite of high relapse rates. (2) Large cell lymphomas with lower relapse rates, but short time between relapse and death, and unfavourable survival. (3) Mixed small/large cleaved follicular centre cell lymphoma which was most favourable with respect to relapse and survival. Nodular lymphoma had the same overall relapse rate as diffuse lymphoma, but had a significantly longer survival. Tumours stage I were associated with significantly longer relapse-free survival and survival than stage II. The importance of separating the majority of non-Hodgkin's lymphomas into three main groups according to cell type is emphasized. These major groups require different clinical approaches in terms of staging and treatment.