Prognostic Factors and Survival in Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma: A Population-Based Study

OBJECTIVE: This study sought to explore the prognostic factors in a large retrospective cohort of patients with primary central nervous system lymphoma (PCNSL) from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. METHODS: There were 5903 patients with PCNSL who had complete clinical information and were identified in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program between 1973 and 2014. The epidemiology, therapeutic measures, and clinical characteristics were listed as descriptive statistics. They were grouped into 4 categories: immunocompetent individual with diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL), immunocompetent individual with non-DLBCL, immunocompromised individual with DLBCL, and immunocompromised individual with non-DLBCL based on different subtypes and immunological status. Survival analysis was conducted with Cox regression models. RESULTS: Different demographics and clinical characteristics were identified as independent factors in different groups. In survival analysis, for patients with DLBCL, chemotherapy involving treatments was associated with the most favorable survival. Received-only radiation could be considered as a primary treatment in immunocompetent patients with non-DLBCL. These differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: PCNSL patients treated with appropriate chemotherapy treatments may receive stable tumor control.