Results of Treatment for non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma of the Head and Neck.

Fifty-seven patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the head and neck were treated at Nara Medical University Hospital between 1986 and 1994 : 26 females and 31 males, with a median age of 60 years. The 5-year survival rate according to the Ann Arbor classification was 81% for 18 stage I patients, 49% for 26 stage II patients, 0% for 13 stage III and IV patients and 50% for the total series. The survival rate of stage I and stage II patients was significantly higher than that for stage III and stage IV patients (p<0.01). The 5-year survival rate was 67% for 13 patients with extranodal lymphomas other than those in Waldeyer's ring, 62% for 19 with nodal lymphomas, and 35% for the 25 patients with lymphomas in Waldeyer's ring. The 4-year survival rate was 100% for 5 patients with histologically low grade lymphomas, 47% for 47 with intermediate grade lymphomas and 40% for 5 with high grade lymphomas. The differences in survival rates among histologic subtypes and among site groups are not statistically significant. Twenty patients were treated with CHOP and 18 with MACOP-B. The median age was 62 years for the former and 51 years for the latter. The 5-year survival rate was 64% and the complete remission (CR) rate was 85% in the MACOP-B-treated group, and 25% and 67% respectively in the CHOP-treated group. These differences are not significant, but MACOP-B therapy tended to result in a higher survival rate and CR rate. Early toxic death occurred in 5% of CHOP patients and 11% of MACOP-B patients.