HIV-associated non-Hodgkin's lymphomas: clinical characteristics and outcome. The experience of the French Registry of HIV-associated tumors.

From 1/87 to 12/89, the French Registry of HIV-associated tumors recorded 131 cases of intermediate- and high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL). There were 47 small non-cleaved Burkitt-type lymphomas (SNCL), 32 immunoblastic lymphomas (IL) and 52 diffuse large-cell or predominantly large-cell lymphomas (LCL). There were differences in the clinical patterns of the histological subtypes. Isolated extranodal presentation was less frequent in SNCL (2/47) than in IL (13/32) and LCL (17/49) (p less than 0.0001). In the latter two groups, the central nervous system was the principal site of extranodal involvement (16/30), 87% of SNCL, patients had no previous manifestations of AIDS whereas 40% of IL and LCL patients presented full-blown AIDS (p less than 0.01). At the time of NHL diagnosis, the median blood CD4 lymphocyte count was higher in SNCL (266/microL) than in LCL (125/microL, p less than 0.05) and IL (80/microL, p less than 0.01), 69% of stages I/II patients, 31% of stages III/IV, and 33% of stage ie patients achieved complete remission (CR), p less than 0.05. Overall median survival time was 5 months. There was no statistical difference in CR and survival rates among histological types. The two-year actuarial survival rate was 25% (median 8 months) for initially asymptomatic patients or those with persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (PGL) and 9% (median 3 months) for those previously with AIDS-related complex (ARC) and AIDS patients (p less than 0.001). Response to treatment was the other predictor factor. The two-year survival rate was 42% (median 16 months) for patients who achieved CR, and 5% (median 3 months) for those who did not.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)