Management of lymphoma patients in a cancer unit: an audit of 15 years' experience in a district general hospital.

摘要

The objectives were to analyse data obtained in a district general hospital medical oncology unit over a 15-year period, and to provide a comparator for standards of care for lymphoma patients in new cancer units. Prospectively collected data were analysed on 208 consecutive patients presenting with lymphoma, on an 'all-comers' basis, between 1981 and 1996. Treatment was with radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy, according to local protocols. The outcome measure was survival from the date of diagnosis. The 5-year actuarial survival was 72.7% for Hodgkin's disease and 55.7% for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Age and stage of disease were the only predictors of survival in a multivariate analysis. Histological classification was not a useful predictor of survival in this analysis. Survival figures comparable with those obtained nationally and across Europe are attainable in a cancer unit. Multiple pathways of referral of lymphoma patients operate in our region.