Atypical lymphoid tissue lymphoma may respond to antibiotics

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Antibiotic treatment may be effective for patients with early stage gastric mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma, but are negative for Helicobacter pylori, Austrian researchers report in the May issue of Gut.

In most patients, MALT is associated with H. pylori infection, Dr. Markus Raderer of the Medical University Vienna and colleagues report. This has led to the use of antibiotics to eradicate the pathogen and to generally good results.

The researchers determine if this approach could be effective in H. pylori-negative patients with MALT lymphoma restricted to the stomach. Six patients were treated with clarithromycin, metronidazole and pantoprazole.

After 3 to 9 months of treatment, five of the six patients showed lymphoma regression. There were four complete responses and one partial remission. The remaining patient had stable disease and was referred for chemotherapy at 12 months.

Follow-up at 19 months showed that all patients were alive and four continued to have a complete response.

"These findings," Dr. Raderer told Reuters Health, "might point to as yet undetected bacterial agents or additional immunological findings in the antibiotics used which have not been elucidated so far."

Nevertheless, given these results, he concluded that "H pylori-negative patients with stage I MALT lymphoma should have the chance of initial treatment with antibiotics."