OBJECTIVETo explore the clinical and prognostic features as well as treatment response of childhood B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma/acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-NHL/B-ALL), so as to better modify the treatment for further improving the prognosis.

METHODSThe clinical data of 43 patients with newly-diagnosed childhood B-NHL/B-ALL from July 2005 to December 2013 in West China Second Hospital of Sichuan University were retrospectively analyzed with particular focus on clinical presentations, laboratory findings and histology. Among them 26 patients received B-NHL-2010 protocol and 17 patients received LMB-89 protocol treatment. Kaplan-Meier method was used to compare the survival rates between groups, while multiple factor logistic regression was used to identify the prognostic factors.

RESULTS(1) The median age at diagnosis was 7.58 (2.42-13.67) years. The male-to-female ratio was 2.9 : 1. No significant difference was found in the median age at diagnosis between male and female children with B-NHL/B-ALL (P = 0.837). (2) Burkitt's lymphoma was the most common (34/43, 79.07%), followed by diffuse large B cell lymphoma (4/43, 9.3%), ALL-L3 (3/43, 6.98%) and others (2/43, 4.65%) in decreasing frequency. (3) According to St. Jude staging classification, 4 patients (9.30%) were divided into stage I, 9 patients (20.93%) into stage II, 23 patients (53.49%) into stage III and 7 patients (16.28%) into stage IV; (4) Clinically, the common predilection sites were as following: ileocecus (11/43, 25.58%), nasopharynx (10/43, 23.26%), faciomaxillary (9/43, 20.93%), superficial lymphadenopathy (8/43, 18.60%), other sites such as mediastinum and bone marrow (5/43, 11.63%). (5) With a median follow up of 24 months (0.7-105 months), the 2-year overall survival (OS) rate and event-free survival (EFS) rate were 79.8% ± 6.5%% and 71.0% ± 7.2%, respectively. The 2-year OS and EFS rates in patients treated with B-NHL-2010 protocol were 79.1% ± 8.4% and 74.1% ± 8.4%, while those in patients treated with LMB-89 protocol were 87.5% ± 8.3% and 66.7% ± 12.4%, respectively, but there was no significant difference between them (P > 0.05). The 2-year EFS rate in patients with LDH > 2N and bone marrow infiltration were significantly lower than that of other groups (P < 0.05). (6) 8 patients (18.6%) relapsed. The median relapsed time was 6 months (2-9 months). 1 patient suffered progressive disease. Male, systemic symptom, elevated LDH, bone marrow and CNS infiltration and advanced stage (stage III and stage IV) were associated with relapse /progressive disease. Logistic regression analysis showed that LDH > 2N was an independent unfavorable prognostic factors (OR = 31.129, P = 0.02).

CONCLUSIONOutcome of B-NHL/B-ALL is greatly improved by current intensive and short-time chemotherapy regimen. The 2-year event-free survival (EFS) rate is 71.0% ± 7.2%. There is no significant difference in EFS rate between patients treated with B-NHL-2010 protocol and LMB89 protocol. The long-term survival rate in patient with advanced disease need to be further improved.