ANGIOIMMUNOBLASTIC LYMPHADENOPATHY (AILD)-TYPE T-CELL LYMPHOMA - PROGNOSTIC IMPACT OF CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS AND LABORATORY FINDINGS AT PRESENTATION

Background: In order to establish the clinico-pathological properties of angioimmunoblastic lymphadenopathy (AILD)-type T-cell lymphoma, we evaluated the type, incidence and prognostic significance of clinical and laboratory symptoms. Patients and methods: Sixty-two consecutive patients diagnosed at the Kiel lymph node registry participated in the study. The median patient age was 64 years (range 21-87 years) and the female to male ratio was 1:1.4. Ninety percent of the patients were in stage III and IV and B-symptoms were observed in 68%. At diagnosis patients presented with skin rash (49%), pruritus (32%), edema (38%), pleural effusion (37%), arthritis (18%) and ascites (23%). Furthermore, they exhibited autoimmune phenomena such as cold agglutinines, circulating immune complexes, a positive Coombs test, smooth muscle antibodies, rheumatoid factors, immune hemolysis, a paraprotein, antinuclear antibodies and cryoglobulins. Results: In univariate analysis, survival was significantly related to age (p = 0.032), stage (p = 0.037), B symptoms (p = 0.007), rash/pruritus (p = 0.038), edema (p = 0.030), ascites (p = 0.013), number of clinical symptoms including B symptoms (p = 0.004) and excluding B symptoms (p = 0.017), lactate dehydrogenase (p = 0.007) and hemoglobin (p = 0.020). Conclusions: AILD type T-cell lymphoma characteristically differs from other non-Hodgkin's lymphomas in its clinical signs and laboratory symptoms.