1. ¹Division of Hematology-Oncology, Department of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, 50 Ilwon-dong Kangnam-ku, Seoul 135-710, Korea
2. ²Department of Hematology-Oncology, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, Seoul, Korea
3. ³Department of Hematology-Oncology, Gachun Medical School Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Korea
4. ⁴Department of Pathology, Korea Cancer Center Hospital, Seoul, Korea
5. ⁵Department of Hematology-Oncology, Dankook University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
6. ⁶Department of Radiation Oncology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
7. ⁷Department of Pathology, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence: Dr WS Kim, E-mail: wskimsmc@smc.samsung.co.kr

Received 26 August 2004; Revised 7 February 2005; Accepted 7 February 2005; Published online 29 March 2005.

Abstract

Nasal-type NK/T cell lymphoma is an increasingly recognised disease entity of aggressive clinical behaviour. The objective of this study was to investigate clinical features and treatment outcomes in patients with nasal-type NK/T cell lymphoma. From January 1991 to December 2003, 26 patients diagnosed as nasal-type NK/T cell lymphoma were included in the analysis. One half of patients presented with poor performance status (ECOG 2); 46% of patients were categorised as high intermediate or high-risk group according to IPI; and 46% of patients were diagnosed at advanced stage. The median survival for 26 patients with nasal-type NK/T cell lymphoma was 7.4 months (95% CI, 0.1, 16.9). The treatment outcome of primary anthracycline-based chemotherapy was poor: 60% CR rate in localised disease and 0% CR rate in advanced disease. After a median follow-up of 24.4 months (range 3.1–99.0) in patients with localised disease who had achieved a CR (range 29.6–165.7), three patients (50.0%) developed disease recurrence at 6.1, 21.8, and 52.1 months, respectively, and all patients presented with locoregional failure. The predictive factors for poor survival were of age greater than 60, advanced stage and poor performance in multivariate analysis. In conclusion, Nasal-type NK/T cell lymphomas showed a poor response to the conventional anthracycline-based chemotherapy, and thus an investigation for an innovative therapy is urgently needed to improve survival in these patients.