Unfavorable prognosis of elderly patients with early-stage extranodal nasal-type NK/T-cell lymphoma — Ann Oncol

Unfavorable prognosis of elderly patients with early-stage extranodal nasal-type NK/T-cell lymphoma
Z. Y. Wang, Y. X. Li*, H. Wang, W. H. Wang, J. Jin, Y. P. Liu, Y. W. Song, S. L. Wang, X. F. Liu and Z. H. Yu

Ann Oncol (2011) 22 (2): 390-396.
doi: 10.1093/annonc/mdq347
First published online: July 8, 2010

+ Author Affiliations
Department of Radiation Oncology, Cancer Hospital, National Cancer Center, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

*Correspondence to: Prof. Y. X. Li, Department of Radiation Oncology, Cancer Hospital, National Cancer Center, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100021, People’s Republic of China. Tel: +86-10-87788860; Fax: +86-10-67706153; E-mail: yexiong@yahoo.com

Received April 22, 2010.
Revision received May 13, 2010.
Accepted May 18, 2010.


Abstract
Background: Extranodal nasal-type NK (natural killer)/T-cell lymphoma in elderly patients is rare, and its prognosis is unclear. This study aims to investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of this lymphoma.

Patients and methods: We analyzed 24 patients (age, >60 years old) with early-stage extranodal nasal-type NK/T-cell lymphoma. Among these patients, 23 received radiotherapy alone (n = 15) or radiotherapy and chemotherapy (n = 8) and 1 received chemotherapy alone.

Results: Elderly patients with early-stage extranodal nasal-type NK/T-cell lymphoma were characterized by male predominance, good performance, large proportion of localized disease, more comorbidities, low-risk international prognostic index, and unfavorable prognosis. The 5-year cancer-specific survival (CSS), overall survival (OS), and progression-free survival (PFS) rates for all patients were 54.3%, 42.0%, and 40.2%, respectively. The 5-year CSS, OS, and PFS rates were 43.5%, 36.6%, and 34.1% in patients who received radiotherapy alone, and 50%, 50%, and 50% in patients who received radiotherapy and chemotherapy, respectively (P = 0.852 for CSS, P = 0.801 for OS, and P = 0.694 for PFS). Four patients died of treatment-related mortality.

Conclusion: Elderly patients with early-stage extranodal nasal-type NK/T-cell lymphoma exhibit poor prognosis and need special attention because of high treatment-related mortality.

Unfavorable prognosis of elderly patients with early-stage extranodal nasal-type NK/T-cell lymphoma — Ann Oncol