Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma associated with chronic inflammation
Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma associated with chronic inflammation (DLBCL-CI) is an Epstein–Barr virus-associated lymphoproliferative disease arising in persons with a long and persistent history of chronic inflammation. The diseases lesions consist of large, mature-appearing B-cells infiltrating the lungs pleura and nearby tissues. Most cases have occurred in patients who were given a pneumothorax (i.e. therapeutic introduction of air into the chest cavity in order to collapse and thereby "rest" the lung) to treat pulmonary tuberculosis that had progressed to a pyothorax (i.e. pus in the pleural cavity). Fibrin-associated large B-cell lymphoma (FA-DLBCL), often considered a sub-type of DLBCL-CI, is an infiltration of large neoplastic B-cells and fibrin affix to a prosthesis (e.g., cardiac valve, orthopaedic device) or accumulate within a hydrocele, pseudocyst, cardiac myxoma, or chronic subdural hematoma. The B-cells in these lesions are often but not always infected with the Epstein–Barr virus. DLBCL-CI occurring in cases of pleural empyema (sometimes termed pyothorax-associated lymphoma, i.e. PAL) is an aggressive lymphoma with a five-year overall survival rate of 20–35%; FA-DLBCL, when involving the heart (e.g. occurring on myxommas or prosthetic valves) or vasculature structures (e.g. on thrombus-laden vascular grafts), may involve life-threatening cardiovascular complications, particularly strokes. Outside of these complications, however, DLBCL-CI usually has a highly favorable outcome. Lymphomatoid granulomatosis
Lymphomatoid granulomatosis (LYG) is a DLBCL in which large, atypical B-cells with immunoblastic or Hodgkin disease-like features that are infected by the Epstein-Barr virus center around and destroy the microvasculature.
The regimen achieves cure, relapse following remission, and unresponsive rates of 60–70%, 30–40% and <10%, respectively, in GBC variant cases. Relapses generally occur within the first 3 years of diagnosis with few cases doing so after 5 years. Patients who are refractory to, relapse within 1 year of diagnosis before starting, relapse within 6 months after completing, or progress within 2 years of starting R-CHOP have poorer prognoses. R-CHOP is less effective and not recommended for patients who have MYC, BL2, and/or BL6 rearrangements regardless of their GBC, ABC, or non-GBC type. One recommendation for treating these DH/THL cases is the DA-R-EPOCH regimen (dose-adjusted rituximab, etoposide, prednisolone, oncovin, cyclophosphamide, and hydroxydaunorubicin). S-R-EPOCH achieves 2 year survival rates of 40–67% compared to a ~25% survival rate for R-CHOP in these cases. DA-R-EPOCH has also been recommended for patients with double expresser lymphoma although some experts recommend treating this variant more like a typical DLCBL, NOS. First-line therapy for patients with the ABC, undetermined, or non-GBC variants has been the DA-R-EPOCH regimen. Patients with these variants (including those with double expresser lymphoma) have had a ~40% cure rate when treated with it. A randomized clinical trial conducted in France reported that a R-ACVBP chemotherapy regimen (rituximab, adriamycin, cyclophosphamide, vindesine, bleomycin, and cytarabine followed by sequential consolidation therapy with systemic methotrexate, ifosfamide, and etoposide, and then cytarabine) achieved significantly better response rates than R-CHOP in ABC/NGC variant cases lymphoma.