Objectives: This study aims to identify the presenting symptoms, treatment and outcome of patients with nasal natural killer T (NK/T)-cell lymphoma and to find possible differences in survival based on Ann-Arbor stage and international prognostic index (IPI).
Patients and methods: Computed tomography and biopsy results of 23 patients (15 males, 8 females; mean age 41 years; range 22 to 72 years) with extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma who were treated at the department of clinical hematology between 1995 and 2011 were retrospectively analyzed.
Results: The median time from onset of clinical symptoms to histological diagnosis was five months. Most patients presented with nasal obstruction (69%) and rhinism (52%). The site of extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma primarily involved nasal cavity in 39%. Orbital extension was observed in 26%. Lymphomas were classified as stage IE in 30.4%, stage IIE in 47.8% and stage IVE in 21.7%. Nineteen patients received treatment: 10 received chemotherapy plus radiotherapy, nine received chemotherapy only. We used several regimens of chemotherapy including some protocols containing etoposid, L-asparaginase and others without this drugs. Univariate analysis showed that lower IPI score, low Ann-Arbor stage and responsiveness to treatment with both chemotherapy and radiotherapy were significant factors influencing both OS and PFS.
Conclusion: Nasal type NK/T-cell lymphoma showed a poor response to the conventional anthracycline-based chemotherapy, thereby an investigation for a novel therapy is urgently needed to improve survival.