Breast lymphoma: favorable prognosis after treatment with standard combination chemotherapy

PURPOSE: This paper is to determine the clinicopathological features and outcome of patients with breast lymphoma seen at a single institution. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We have reviewed data on 14 patients with breast lymphoma seen at our institution from 1990 to 2003. RESULTS: All patients were female, with a median age of 47.6 years. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) was observed in 9 cases, while follicular, Burkitt's, small lymphocytic, MALT and T-cell lymphoma were observed in 1 case each. 5 patients (35.7%) had stage IE disease, 6 patients (42.9%) had stage IIE disease and 3 patients (21.4%) had stage IV disease. Standard CHOP with or without rituximab was given to all patients with aggressive breast lymphoma (n = 10), while 1 patient with Burkitt's lymphoma received a CHOP-based regimen. The 3-year actuarial survival estimate among all 11 patients with aggressive breast lymphoma was 73%. Among those with localized disease, the estimated 3-year survival was 90%. The actuarial 3-year overall survival (OS) estimate for the entire cohort of 14 patients was 76.9%. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that breast lymphoma is not associated with an inferior outcome when treated with standard CHOP-based chemotherapy.