OBJECTIVETo probe the clinical and pathological characteristics of nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL).

METHODSThe pathologically confirmed 14 cases of NLPHL patients (since January 2001 to December 2012) were collected from Tianjin Medical University Cancer Hospital. The laboratory examinations' results, clinical manifestations, short-term and long-term outcomes of these cases were analyzed in this study.

RESULTSThe immunohistochemistry of all cases showed CD20 (+)/weak (+) and CD30 (-), most of them CD15 (-). The morbidity of NLPHL during the same period of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) was around 6.3%. The median age was 38 (13-54) years old, 92.9% of the patients sought medical advice according to self-feeling of superficial lymph nodes. All patients' disease progressed slowly and the sizes of lymph nodes were within 3 cm. Of the 14 patients, 7 patients were treated with chemotherapy and 7 patients chemoradiotherapy. The treatment results showed CR+CRu rate as 85.7% and ORR 100.0%. The rates of 5-year event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) were 85.7% and 100.0% respectively. Short and long term efficacies between chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy had no significant differences. Meanwhile, varieties chemotherapy regimens showed no significant effects on short- and long-term efficacies (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe pathologically confirmed 14 cases of NLPHL had the classical and tumorous maxi cell, which showed CD20 (+)/weak (+) and CD30 (-), very few cases showed weak CD15 (+). The incidence of NLPHL was low. The majority of the NLPHL patients were middle-aged and youth. Moreover, the better short- and long-term outcomes over classical HL ones were observed regardless of patients' stage.