Gastric leptomeningeal carcinomatosis: Multi-center retrospective analysis of 54 cases

AIM： To identify the clinical features and outcomes of infrequently reported leptomeningeal carcinomatosis （LMC） of gastric cancer.METHODS： We analyzed 54 cases of cytologically confirmed gastric LMC at four institutions from 1994 to 2007.RESULTS： The male-to-female ratio was 32：22, and the patients ranged in age from 28 to 78 years （median,48.5 years）. The majority of patients had advanced disease at initial diagnosis of gastric cancer. The clini-cal or pathologic tumor, node and metastasis stage ofthe primary gastric cancer wasin 38 patients （70%）.The median interval from diagnosis of the primarymalignancy to the diagnosis of LMC was 6.3 mo, rang-ing between 0 and 73.1 mo. Of the initial endoscopic f indings for the 45 available patients, 23 （51%） of the patients were Bormann typeand 15 （33%） patientswere Bormann type. Pathologically, 94% of cases proved to be poorly differentiated adenocarcinomas. Signet ring cell component was also observed in 40% of patients. Headache （85%） and nausea/vomiting （58%） were the most common presenting symptoms of LMC. A gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging was conducted in 51 patients. Leptomeningeal enhancement was noted in 45 cases （82%）. Intrathecal （IT） chemotherapy was administered to 36 patients-primarily methotrexate alone （61%）, but also in combi-nation with hydrocortisone/± Ara-C （39%）. The median number of IT treatments was 7 （range, 1-18）. Concomitant radiotherapy was administered to 18 patients, and concomitant chemotherapy to seven patients. Sev-enteen patients （46%） achieved cytological negative conversion. Median overall survival duration from the diagnosis of LMC was 6.7 wk （95% CI： 4.3-9.1 wk）. In the univariate analysis of survival duration, hemoglobin, IT chemotherapy, and cytological negative conversion showed superior survival duration （P = 0.038, P = 0.010, and P = 0.002, respectively）. However, in our multivariate analysis, only cytological negative conversion was predictive of relatively longer survival duration （3.6, 6.7 and 14.6 wk, P = 0.03, RR： 0.415, 95% CI：0.188-0.918）.CONCLUSION： Although these patients had a fatal clinical course, cytologic negative conversion by IT chemotherapy may improve survival.

New risk factors and new tendency for central nervous system relapse in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma:a retrospective study

Background: In patients with difuse large B?cell lymphoma(DLBCL), central nervous system(CNS) relapse is uncom?mon but is nearly always fatal. This study aimed to determine the risk factors for CNS relapse in DLBCL patients and to evaluate the eicacy of rituximab and intrathecal chemotherapy prophylaxis for CNS relapse reduction.Methods: A total of 511 patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL treated at the Sun Yat?sen University Cancer Center between January 2003 and December 2012 were included in the study. Among these patients, 376 received R?CHOP regimen(rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) as primary treatment, and 135 received CHOP regimen(cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone) as primary treatment. Intrathe?cal chemotherapy prophylaxis(methotrexate plus cytarabine) was administered to those who were deemed at high risk for CNS relapse. In the entire cohort and in the R?CHOP set in particular, the Kaplan–Meier method coupled with the log?rank test was used for univariate analysis, and the Cox proportional hazards model was used for multivariate analysis. Diferences were evaluated using a two?tailed test, and P < 0.05 was considered signiicant.Results: At a median follow?up of 46 months, 25(4.9%) patients experienced CNS relapse. There was a trend of reduced occurrence of CNS relapse in patients treated with rituximab; the 3?year cumulative CNS relapse rates were 7.1% in CHOP group and 2.7% in R?CHOP group(P = 0.045). Intrathecal chemotherapy prophylaxis did not confer much beneit in terms of preventing CNS relapse. Bone involvement [hazard ratio(HR) = 4.21, 95% conidence interval(CI) 1.38–12.77], renal involvement(HR = 3.85, 95% CI 1.05–14.19), alkaline phosphatase(ALP) >110 U/L(HR = 3.59, 95% CI 1.25–10.34), serum albumin(ALB) <35 g/L(HR = 3.63, 95% CI 1.25–10.51), treatment with rituxi?mab(HR = 0.34, 95% CI 0.12–0.96), and a time to complete remission ≤ 108 days(HR = 0.22, 95% CI 0.06–0.78) were independent predictive factors for CNS relapse in the entire cohort. Bone involvement(HR = 4.44, 95% CI 1.08–18.35), bone marrow involvement(HR = 11.70, 95% CI 2.24–60.99), and renal involvement(HR = 10.83, 95% CI 2.27–51.65) were independent risk factors for CNS relapse in the R?CHOP set.Conclusions: In the present study, rituximab decreased the CNS relapse rate of DLBCL, whereas intrathecal chemo?therapy prophylaxis alone was not suicient for preventing CNS relapse. Serum levels of ALB and ALP, and the time to complete remission were new independent predictive factors for CNS relapse in the patients with DLBCL. In the patients received R?CHOP regimen, a trend of increased CNS relapse was found to be associated with extranodal lesions.