Dr. Shruthi M. N
BACKGROUND HNENL (Head and Neck Extra nodal Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma) contributes for <20% of all extra nodal NHL and <5% of all head and neck cancers. With limited literature, the outcomes of extra nodal lymphomas also vary depending on specific sites mostly because of different management strategies. Hence, the present study was undertaken to review the outcome of the primary extra nodal NHL of head and neck patients treated in our institute. MATERIALS AND METHODS A retrospective descriptive study was conducted among all the extranodal NHL cases of head and neck region treated in a regional cancer care centre during January 2010 to June 2013 except those who already had recurrences or distant metastasis. All the patients were followed up for a period of 6-36 months. RESULTS Among 29 patients, the mean age of the participants was 53.72 ± 11.37 years, males predominated (55.2%), the tonsillar group constituted the highest (48.3%) and 34.5% had lymph nodes. The over-all survival was 100.0% and the median disease-free survival was better in the tonsillar group (32.0 months) and among those with no lymph nodes (30.0 months). The disease-free survival rates were 28.6% in tonsillar group, 22.2% in nasopharyngeal group and 33.3% among others; it was 31.6% among those with no lymph nodes and 20.0% with lymph nodes. CONCLUSION Tonsillar group has relatively better prognosis compared to nasopharyngeal group of NHL patients and lymphadenopathy implicated a relatively bad prognosis.
