OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinical, endoscopic and pathological features in primary colorectal non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

METHODSTwenty-four cases of primary colorectal non-Hodgkin lymphoma were studied retrospectively.

RESULTSThe main clinical symptoms were abdominal pain, abdominal mass, loss of weight, fever, bloody stools and altered bowel habits. There were 6 cases (25.0%) involving two or more lesion sites, including three cases showing continuous skip-distribution from sigmoid colon to ascending colon, one case showing the homologous manifestation from rectum to cecum, one case involving ascending colon and rectum, and the last one involving sigmoid colon and rectum. There were 18 cases involving single lesion site and the caecum was the most frequently affected site (44.4%, 8 cases). The major endoscopic phenotypes were ulcer (39.1%), bossing (43.5%) and infiltrating (17.4%). The major pathology types were diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (11/24, 45.8%), intestinal T-cell lymphoma (8/24, 33.3%), and mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma (MALT) (3/24, 12.5%). 2 of 24 cases (8.3%) were not decided. Twenty-one patients were treated surgically, containing fifteen radical excisions, one local excision, four palliative excisions and one exploratory laparotomy. Sixteen postoperative patients accepted CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone) or COP (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisone) chemotherapy, and three patients abandoned treatment. Twenty-one patients were followed up and the 5-year survival rate was 37.7%.

CONCLUSIONThe clinical features of primary colorectal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma have no specificity. Ulcer and bossing are the two major morphologic manifestations of endoscopic. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and intestinal T-cell lymphoma are the main pathological types. Comprehensive treatment of surgery and chemotherapy are effective methods for primary colorectal non-Hodgkin lymphoma.