A clinical study of 115 patients with extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type

Aims: To investigate the clinicopathological features, treatment outcomes, and prognostic factors in patients with extranodal natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type. Materials and methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 115 patients diagnosed with extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type who were admitted to our hospital between January 1991 and June 2006. Results: In total, 107 patients were available for follow-up. After the completion of treatment, 48 patients (44.9%) achieved a complete remission. By the end of the follow-up period, 60 patients (56.1%) had died from local recurrence or metastases. The mean survival duration was 70.0 months, the median survival duration was 42 months, and the 5-year survival rate was 39.4%. The mean survival durations of the three treatment groups of chemoradiotherapy, radiotherapy and palliative treatment were 91.6, 60.1 and 17.6 months, respectively. The median survival durations were 72.0, 42.0 and 10 months, respectively. Patients treated with > 50Gy had better local control and survival than the < 50Gy group. However, there was no significant difference between patients having fewer than four cycles of chemotherapy and patients having more than four cycles. Multifactor Cox regression model analysis showed that B symptoms, gender, International Prognostic Index (IPI) score, disease stage and therapy were all independent prognostic factors. Conclusions: The prognosis of extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type is poor and significantly influenced by B symptoms, gender, IPI score, clinical staging and the method of treatment. Chemoradiotherapy should be the first choice for treatment.