OBJECTIVETo explore the prognostic factors and to compare chemotherapy alone versus surgical resection plus chemotherapy for early stage primary gastric diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL).

METHODSClinical data of 75 patients who were diagnosed as primary gastric DLBCL between January 1993 and August 2008 in Cancer Institute and Hospital of Tianjin Medical University were reviewed retrospectively.

RESULTSAmong these 75 patients, 20 patients received chemotherapy alone and 55 underwent surgical resection plus chemotherapy. Complete remission rates were 65.0% (13/20) and 83.6% (46/55), effective rates were 75.0% (15/20) and 92.7% (51/55), and 5-year survival rates were 86.9% and 78.7% respectively in chemotherapy alone group and resection plus chemotherapy group, while the differences were not statistically significant (all P>0.05). Multivariate Cox regression model showed that international prognosis index (IPI) was the only independent prognostic factor (P<0.05, HR=11.350, 95%CI:1.011-127.371).

CONCLUSIONSIn early stage of DLBCL, IPI is the only independent prognostic factor. The clinical outcomes are comparable between chemotherapy alone and surgical resection plus chemotherapy.