The clinical study of extranodal natural killer cell lymphoma, nasal type.

To analyze the clinical characteristics, treatment of extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type, the term "nasal type" describes in the nasal cavity and also in the extranasal sites. There were 82 patients with nasal NK/T lymphoma (group 1) and 11 patients with extranasal NK/T lymphoma (group 2). In group 1, 4 patients gave up treatment. Five patients received radiotherapy (RT) alone. Fifty-seven patients were treated with combination of chemotherapy and RT. Sixteen patients received chemotherapy alone. Most patients (82.9%) had stage I/II disease and a high frequency (about one-third) of B symptoms. The CR rate was 53.8%. The OS rate was 62.8% (49/78 cases). Three patients died in relation to L-asparaginase. Three patients with late relapses occurred at 10 and 17 years from CR, respectively. In group 2, except that one patient received chemoradiotherapy, 10 patients received chemotherapy. Seven patients died. The OS rate was 36.4%. Our study suggested that nasal and extranasal variants of extranodal NK/T lymphoma, nasal type represented different clinical behavior and prognosis. For comparison, extranasal NK/T lymphoma is more aggressive and higher mortality than nasal NK/T lymphoma.