[Clinical features, treatment and prognosis of 136 patients with primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the nasopharynx].

Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics,internationa l prognostic index and treatment of primary non-Hodgkin′s lymphoma (NHL) of th e nasopharynx. Methods From January 1983 to December 1997,136 patients with pre viously untreated NHL of the nasopharynx were retrospectively reviewed. All pati ents were confirmed pathologically and classified by Working Formulation system. There were 18 patients with high-grade,77 intermediate,2 low-grade and 39 u nc lassifiable lymphoma. According to Ann Arbor classification,25 patients had sta ge Ⅰ,91 stage Ⅱ,12 stage Ⅲ and 8 stage Ⅳ lesions. Primary therapy was rad iotherapy alone in 13 patients and radiotherapy combined with chemotherapy in 12 patients with stage Ⅰ disease. In 88 patients with stage Ⅱ,radiotherapy alone was giv en to 31 patients,and a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy to 57 patients. Che motherapy was primary treatment for advanced stage Ⅲ/Ⅳ diseases. Results The overall survival rate (OS),cancer specific survival rate (CS S) and disease-free survival rate (DFS) at 5 and 10 years for all patients w ere 56.2%,61.2%,51.1% and 48.3%,58.0%,46.5%,respectively. As for inter national prognostic index ( IPI),th e 5-year CSS was 70.9% for 0 risk factor,44.9% for 1 risk factor,30.0% for 2 or 3 ris k factors,respectively ( P = 0.004). For stage Ⅰ patients,the 5-year CS S was 83.1% for RT alone and 82.2% for combined modality therapy,respective ly ( P =0.77 9). For patients with stage Ⅱ,the 5-year CSS was 46.0% for radiotherapy alone and 70.9% for combined modality therapy. There was significant difference between t hem ( P =0.04). Multivariate analysis by Cox regression showed that Ann Arbor stag e,B symptom and IPI were independent prognostic factors. Conclusion Internationa l prognostic index is an important prognostic factor for Non-Hodgkin′s lymphom a of the nasopharynx and the combined modality therapy may be optimal for the stag e Ⅱ patients.