Clinical characteristics and prognosis of primary non-Hodgkon's lymphoma of the base of tongue

Objective: To study the prognostic factors and treatment results of the non-Hodginkon's lymphoma (NHL) of the base of tongue. Methods: Thirty-nine patients with NHL of the base of tongue treated from Jan. 1983 to Jan. 1997 were analyzed. All patients were confirmed by pathology. The most frequent histological types were diffused large cell lymphoma and diffused mixed-cellularity lymphoma, which accounted for 33.3% and 15.4% of all patients. According to Ann Arbor classification, 8 patients had stage I, 28 stage II and 3 stage III + IV disease. Based on AJCC TNM criteria, 10 patients had T1, 17 T2, 11 T3 and 1 T4 disease. According to the international prognostic index (IPI), 14 patients had one or more unfavorable prognostic factors, whereas 25 patients did not. Seven of the 8 stage I patients received radiotherapy (RT) alone and one received combined modality therapy. Eight of 28 stage II patients were given RT alone and 20 were given combined modality therapy. The treatment of stage III and IV cases were mainly chemotherapy. Results: The 5-year overall survival rate (OS) and disease free survival rate (DFS) were 82.5% and 67.2%. The 5-year OS and DFS were 100% and 87.5% for stage I, 82.9% and 67.9% for stage II disease (P > 0. 05). Among the stage II patients, the 5-year OS for patients with AJCC T1-2 and those with T3-4 were 88.4% and 74.1% (P > 0. 05) , the corresponding 5-year DFS were 79.5% and 48.6%, with the difference significant (P < 0. 05). For stage II patients, the 5-year OS and DFS were 100% and 65.6%for radiotherapy alone, 76.5% and 68.7% for combined modality therapy (P > 0. 05). The 5-year OS and DFS were 95.0% and 77.6% for patients without unfavorable factors, 52.1% and 39.7% for those with one or more unfavorable factors, with the difference significant (P < 0. 05). Conclusions: NHL of the base of tongue has a good prognosis. AJCC-T stage and IPI are important prognostic factors