Criteria

Modified Blackledge staging system (Lugano staging) of gastrointestinal non-Hodgkin's lymphoma[42][43]

Stage I: confined to GI tract (single primary, or multiple, non-contiguous lesions)

  • Stage I1: infiltration limited to mucosa, with or without submucosal involvement

  • Stage I2: infiltration into muscularis propria, subserosa, or serosa, or both.

Stage II: extending into abdomen from primary GI site

  • Stage II1: local nodal involvement (paragastric in gastric lymphoma)

  • Stage II2: distant nodal involvement.

Stage IIE: penetration of serosa to involve adjacent organ or tissues.

Stage IV: disseminated extranodal involvement or concomitant supra-diaphragmatic nodal involvement.

Paris TNM staging for primary gastrointestinal lymphomas[44]

Depth of tumour infiltration (T):

  • TX: lymphoma extent not specified

  • T0: no evidence of lymphoma

  • T1: lymphoma confined to the mucosa/submucosa

  • T1m: lymphoma confined to mucosa

  • T1sm: lymphoma confined to submucosa

  • T2: lymphoma infiltrates muscularis propria or subserosa

  • T3: lymphoma penetrates serosa (visceral peritoneum) without invasion of adjacent structures

  • T4: lymphoma invades adjacent structures or organs

Nodal involvement (N):

  • NX: involvement of lymph nodes not assessed

  • N0: no evidence of lymph node involvement

  • N1: involvement of regional lymph nodes

  • N2: involvement of intra-abdominal lymph nodes beyond the regional area

  • N3: spread to extra-abdominal lymph nodes

Metastasis (M):

  • MX: dissemination of lymphoma not assessed

  • M0: no evidence of extranodal dissemination

  • M1: non-continuous involvement of separate site in gastrointestinal tract (e.g., stomach and rectum)

  • M2: non-continuous involvement of other tissues (e.g., peritoneum, pleura) or organs (e.g., tonsils, parotid gland, ocular adnexa, lung, liver, spleen, kidney, breast)

Bone marrow involvement (B):

  • BX: involvement of bone marrow not assessed

  • B0: no evidence of bone marrow involvement

  • B1: lymphomatous infiltration of bone marrow

Lugano staging classification[45]​ 

  • Stage I: involvement of one lymph node or a group of adjacent nodes; or involvement of single extranodal lesions without nodal involvement (stage IE).

  • Stage II: involvement of 2 or more nodal groups on the same side of the diaphragm; or stage I or II nodal extent with limited contiguous extranodal involvement (stage IIE).

  • Stage II (bulky): as above for stage II, but with bulky disease (i.e., a single nodal mass ≥10 cm in greatest diameter or greater than one third of the transthoracic diameter at any level of thoracic vertebrae).

  • Stage III: involvement of lymph node on both sides of the diaphragm (includes involvement of lymph node above the diaphragm and the spleen).

  • Stage IV: involvement of additional non-contiguous extranodal site(s) (i.e., beyond extranodal site[s], contiguous or proximal to known nodal site).

Note: Tonsils, Waldeyer's ring, and spleen are considered nodal tissue.

Histological grading system for gastric MALT lymphomas[22]

Category A: classic low-grade MALT lymphoma, with <5% blasts in clusters of up to 10 cells.

Category B: tumours with >10% to 20% blasts or blast clusters of up to 20 cells.

Category C: consistent with typical high-grade transformation, in which sheets of blasts and only small-foci of low-grade tumour can be seen.

Category D: corresponds to large B-cell lymphoma, without a low-grade component.

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