OBJECTIVETo analyze the clinical pathologic characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and outcome of patients with primary gastrointestinal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma(PGI-NHL).

METHODSThe clinical and pathological features of 50 cases of PGI-NHL were analyzed retrospectively, the Kaplan-Meier was applied to estimate the survival time of all the patients.

RESULTSThe median age of patients was 58 years old, the cases of male patient were more than that of femal. The main clinical symptoms included pain and discomfort. The patients of Ⅰ-Ⅱstage accounted for 66%, DLBCL was most common. The clinical and pathological features were not significantly different between gastric and intestinal lymphoma. In 58% of the patients, surgery was the first choice for treatment. The median survival time was 74 months. The OS rates at 1-, 3- and 5-year were 78%, 65.9% and 61.8% respectively. Log-rank univariate analysis showed that age, sex, ECOG score, B symptoms, disease location and treatment methods all did not relate with OS, however, IPI, stage, LDH, cell phenotype and pathological type closely related with the OS.

CONCLUSIONAs lacking characteristic clinical manifestations of PGI-NHL, the DLBCL is the most common type. The prognosis of B cell lymphoma is significantly better than that of T cell lymphoma. The prognosis of PTCL is the worst.