The Presence of Pleural Effusion at Diagnosis Predicts Poor Outcomes in Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Patients with MYC -Rearrangement or Double Protein Expression

Background: Diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs) with MYC -rearrangement (MYC -R) or double protein expression (DE) of the MYC and BCL2 are associated with poor prognosis. MYC -R reportedly occurs in approximately 5-14% of DLBCL cases. While the pathological and genetic prognostic factors for DLBCL with MYC -R have been reported, the clinical prognostic factors, including the extranodal sites involved, have not been fully elucidated. In the updated National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines for non-Hodgkin lymphomas, the presence of pleural effusion is a poor prognostic criterion for low-grade B-cell lymphomas; however, its prognostic significance in high-grade B-cell lymphomas is unclear. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the association between the presence of pleural effusion at diagnosis and outcomes in DLBCL with MYC -R or DE.