Primary thyroid lymphoma: the 40 year experience of a UK lymphoma treatment centre.

We report the 40-year unselected experience of a UK lymphoma treatment centre. Between 1970 and 2010, 3363 cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma were managed by the Sheffield Lymphoma Team. Seventy cases of primary thyroid lymphoma were identified during this time. This retrospective review of the clinical and pathological features of patients with thyroid lymphoma comprises one of the largest series conducted in the UK. The series included 57 females and 13 males with a median age at diagnosis of 69.5. The pathological subtypes were diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in 50 patients, MALT lymphoma in 13, indolent B-cell lymphoma not otherwise specified (NOS) in 6 and T cell lymphoma in one patient. Of the 64 patients fully staged, 53 had Stage IE and 11 Stage IIE disease. Management modalities included surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy or combination treatment. Five- year survival rates for DLBCL, MALT lymphoma and indolent B-cell lymphoma NOS were 45%, 62% and 75%, respectively, with a median overall survival of all histological subtypes of 68 months (range 0-148) or 5.7 years. The outcomes of this series confirm previous experience. If treatment is needed after surgery radiotherapy alone is sufficient for Stage I and II low grade thyroid lymphoma. Combination chemotherapy or adequate chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy is warranted in high grade thyroid lymphoma.