Thirty eight patients with stage Iand II primary gastrointestinal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were treated in the Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital between 1979 and 1984. There were 6 systemic disseminations during radiotherapy, and the overall failure rate were 31% in the cases with tumor bulk less than 5 cm in diameter before radiotherapy and 75% in the cases with tumor bulk greater than 5 cm in diameter (p<0.05). The overall 5 year survival rate were 69.2% in 28 patients who completed radiotherapay and 72% in 24 patients with tumor bulk less than 5 cm in diameter (small or no tumor bulk). The 5 year disease free survival rate were 71% in cases with tumor bulk less than 5 cm in diameter and 25% in cases with tumor bulk greater than 5 cm in diameter (p<0.01). But the initial stage was not related with treatment result in all cases or subgroups of cases. Thus the cases with small or no tumor bulk were shown to be curable with combined surgery and postoperative radiotherapy, but for the control of the cases with large tumor bulk that had a guarded prognosis combined radiotherapy and chemotherapy should be tried.
Disease-Free Survival ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin* ; Prognosis ; Radiation Oncology ; Radiotherapy* ; Seoul ; Survival Rate