Outcome of patients with nasal natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma treated with radiotherapy, with or without chemotherapy

BACKGROUND: This study reviews the outcome of patients with nasal natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma treated at the Therapeutic Radiology Department, National Cancer Centre, Singapore, from 1997 to 2003. METHODS: Twenty-one consecutive patients treated with radiotherapy, with or without chemotherapy, were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: The median age was 44 years (range, 27-86 years). Thirteen patients had stage I disease, five had stage II disease, and three had stage IV disease. Immunophenotyping was CD 56+ in 18 patients. Median follow-up for patients still alive was 23.4 months (range, 8.9-78.5 months). A median dose of 50 Gy (range, 35-56 Gy) was delivered. Sixteen patients also received chemotherapy. Two-year overall survival was 52.8%. Five patients had rapidly progressive disease, with a median survival of 89 days from diagnosis. The other 16 patients had complete remission, after which four relapsed. There were two local relapses. CONCLUSIONS: This disease often carries a poor prognosis, despite multimodality treatment. Radiotherapy may contribute to local control in some patients.