10-Year Experience of the Riga East Clinical University Hospital in the Treatment of Gastric Lymphoma

Objectives
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma’s incidence has been increasing over the past 20-30 years. This increase has been observed in extranodal forms. Gastric lymphoma is the most common extranodal location, accounting for 55–65% of cases.
Retrospective analysis of 50 newly diagnosed gastric lymphoma patients at Riga East Clinical University Hospital (Riga, Latvia) at period from 2012 to 2022.
Materials and Methods
The retrospective study was conducted in Riga East Hospital. Medical documents of patients with primary gastric lymphoma diagnosed between 2012 and 2022 were reviewed. The analysis included patient demographics, symptoms, diagnostic methods, histological findings, and treatments. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics.
Results
The study included 50 patients, male to female ratio 1.3:1 and the mean age 61.6 years. Abdominal pain and new onset dyspepsia were the commonly observed presenting symptoms. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) was the most frequent histological subtype, seen in 60% of cases, followed by mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma (32%), mantle cell lymphoma (4%), follicular lymphoma (2%), and peripheral T-cell lymphoma (2%).
Helicobacter pylori infection was identified in 36%. Stage IVB was the most common at diagnosis, occurring in 32% of cases, while only 4% were diagnosed at stage I.
Diagnosis was made by fibrogastroscopy – in 73 %.
Complete remission after first-line treatment was achieved in 78% of patients, while 10% experienced disease progression or relapse.
Conclusions
Gastric lymphoma is a rare disease, but the most common extranodal location of lymphoma. Diagnosis is often made at an advanced stage, despite on minimally invasive diagnostics. First-line chemotherapy is effective, even in late-stage presentations.