Patients with testicular lymphoma are at an increased risk of central nervous system (CNS) disease. Optimal strategy for CNS relapse prevention is unknown. We analyzed treatment strategies, cumulative incidence of CNS relapse and prognosis in 229 patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and testicular involvement: 157 primary testicular lymphomas (PTL) in clinical stages IE/IIE and 72 patients in advanced stages (T-DLBCL) IIIE/IV. Treatments for PTL vs. T-DLBCL included: rituximab-based chemotherapy (80.9% vs. 90.3%), orchiectomy (94.3% vs. 65.3%) and contralateral testicular irradiation (59.8% vs. 44.4%). Majority (84.3%) received CNS prophylaxis with similar rates of prophylactic methotrexate (intravenous 19.1% vs. 16.6%, intrathecal 40.8% vs. 40.4%, or both 24.2% vs. 27.8%) between PTL and T-DLBCL (p = 0.89). Median follow-up was 51.8 months. CNS relapses occurred in 14 (6.1%) of 63 relapsing patients. The 5-year cumulative incidence of CNS relapse in PTL was 4.5% and in T-DLBCL 12.1%. Median time to CNS relapse was 21.9 months. In univariate analyses, orchiectomy was the single significant factor associated with lower risk of CNS relapse in PTL (HR = 0.11 [95% CI, 0-0.124], p = 0.001). Rituximab significantly reduced CNS relapse risk in T-DLBCL (HR = 0.1002, p = 0.0005). Median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) following CNS relapse was dismal in T-DLBCL compared to PTL (PFS 1.6 vs. 37.8 months, p = 0.04 and OS 2.3 vs. 37.8 months, p = 0.05). This study confirmed a favorable impact of rituximab in prevention of CNS relapse in T-DLBCL. Methotrexate prophylaxis did not alter CNS relapse risk. Prognosis of CNS relapse is particularly poor in T-DLBCL.

Cell Therapy Department Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion Prague Czech Republic

Ceske Budejovice Hospital Ceske Budejovice Czech Republic

Datacenter of the Czech Lymphoma Study Group Prague Czech Republic

Department of Clinical Hematology University Hospital Pilsen Czech Republic

Department of Internal Medicine Hematology and Oncology Faculty of Medicine University Hospital Brno Masaryk University Brno Brno Czech Republic

Department of Oncology of the 2nd Faculty of Medicine of Charles University Motol University Hospital Prague Czech Republic

Division of Hematology Oncology and Transplantation University of Minnesota Minneapolis MN USA

Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Department of Haemato Oncology Palacky University Olomouc Czech Republic

Fakultni nemocnice Kralovske Vinohrady Department of Haematology and 3rd Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Czech Republic

University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine 4th Department of Internal Medicine Hematology Hradec Kralove Czech Republic

University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine Department of Hemato Oncology Ostrava Czech Republic

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