[Validity of the International Prognostic Index in non-Hodgkin's lymphomas of varying grades of malignancy].

Objective: The "International Prognostic Index" (IPI) has been published for patients with histological intermediate grade malignancy non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) according to the Working Formulation (WF). The IPI is based on pre-treatment clinical characteristics: age, performance status, Ann Arbor stage, extranodal sites, serum lactate-dehydrogenase concentration. We investigated whether the IPI also had prognostic value for NHL patients with a low grade malignancy or high grade malignancy according to the WF.

Patients And Methods: Our series included 192 patients with NHL, diagnosed in a single institution between 1986 and 1998. In each patient the relationship among IPI, response to therapy and survival was investigated.

Results: The IPI turned out to be of prognostic value for response rate and survival in our unselected cohort of patients, as well. In each of the three WF classes separately (low, intermediate, high grade malignancy), the four IPI classes showed going from low to high risk substantially decreasing response rates and survival percentages.

Conclusions: The IPI is confirmed as an important tool for prognostic evaluation of NHL patients: an integration of IPI, histological grading and serum beta 2-microglobulin concentration is supported.