It is not known if infectious agents also cause MALT lymphomas outside of the stomach.
MALT lymphomas are then recognized as areas of inflammation or ulceration within the stomach.
Those MALT lymphomas that arise in the stomach in response to H. pylori infections are generally successfully treated with antibiotics, which eliminate the bacteria.
Effective treatment for these lymphomas has been achieved with local radiation, chemotherapy, and/or interferon.
MALT lymphomas are solid tumors that originate from cancerous growth of immune cells that are recruited to secretory tissue such as the gastrointestinal tract, salivary glands, lungs, and the thyroid gland.
MALT lymphomas are generally indolent, that is, they grow slowly and cause little in the way of symptoms.
In the stomach they are associated, in greater than 90% of all cases, with the bacteria called Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori).
MALT lymphomas occur at a frequency of about 1.5 per 100,000 people per year in the United States and account for about 10% of all non-Hodgkin's lymphomas.
However, other hereditary, dietary, or environmental factors are almost certainly involved.
Overall these patients have five-year survival rates greater than 90%.
it is standard practice that patients presenting with MALT lymphomas should be evaluated in a similar manner to individuals with nodal lymphomas, the more common type of lymphoma that originates at sites within the lymphoid system.
it is essential that the pathologist determine whether or not the lymphoma has grown beyond the borders of the mucosa, which lines the stomach or other gland.
In some cases, such as in the thyroid, MALT lymphomas seem to arise in patients who have autoimmune diseases, which make their immune systems treat their own tissue as foreign or antigenic.