Hypercalcemia is associated with a poor prognosis in lymphoma a retrospective monocentric matched-control study and extensive review of published reported cases

The prognostic significance of hypercalcemia in lymphoma has only been studied on small series to date. We conducted a retrospective, monocentric, matched-control study that aimed to compare the outcome of patients diagnosed with any histological subtype of lymphoma associated with hypercalcemia, at diagnosis or relapse, with a group of controls matched for histological and prognostic factors. Sixty-two and 118 comparable patients treated between 2000 and 2016 were included in hypercalcemia and control cohorts, respectively. Hypercalcemia was found mainly at diagnosis (71%) in higher-risk patients (prognosis scores ≥ 3, 76%) and those with diffuse large B cell lymphoma (67.7%), stage III/IV disease (91.9%), and elevated LDH (90.3%). Two-year progression-free survival (PFS) was shorter in the hypercalcemia than control cohort [30.1% (95% confidence interval (95% CI) 18.3–41.9) vs 63.9% (95% CI 5.1–72.7), p < 0.001]. Two-year overall survival (OS) was 40.6% (95% CI 28.1–53.1) and 77.7% (95% CI 70.1–85.3) in the hypercalcemia and control cohorts, respectively ( p < 0.001). Hypercalcemia was independently associated with poor PFS [HR = 2.5 (95% CI 1.4–3.5)] and OS [HR = 4.7 (95% CI 2.8–7.8)] in multivariate analysis. Among the 40 patients who received autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT), hypercalcemia was still associated with shorter OS [2-year OS: 65% (95% CI 40.1–89.9) vs 88.0 (95% CI 75.3–100), p = 0.04]. Hypercalcemia may be associated with chemo-resistance, given its impact on PFS and OS. Hence, these data suggest that alternate strategies for lymphoma patients with hypercalcemia should be developed.