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.
While the outlook for patients with MALT lymphomas is good, difficulties in diagnosis and staging have left the optimal treatment a matter of continued study.
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.
In the United States, where infections with H. pylori are quite common, less than 1 in 30,000 people who have H. pylori in their stomachs develop MALT lymphomas.
In general, the prognosis for patients with MALT lymphomas is good, with overall five-year survival rates that are greater than 80%.
MALT lymphomas are generally indolent, that is, they grow slowly and cause little in the way of symptoms.
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.
The indolent nature of most MALT lymphomas means that the majority of patients are diagnosed at early stages with relatively nonspecific symptoms.
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.
Overall these patients have five-year survival rates greater than 90%.
Those MALT lymphomas that arise in the stomach in response to H. pylori infections are generally successfully treated with antibiotics, which eliminate the bacteria.
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.