Abstract:
Objective To investigate the prognostic factors of non-upper aerodigestive tract extranodal NK/T- cell lymphoma (NUATNKTCL).
Methods Samples from twenty patients with NUAT-NKTCL, who were treated in The First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University between January 2011 and December 2015, were collected. The overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) time of these patients were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Through the log-rank test, the survival curves were compared among EBER expression, age, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level, EBV-DNA copies, and gender.
Results The male-female ratio of patients was 13:7. The median age was 39 years (range 12-66), with 3 patients above 60 years (15%) and the others below 60 years (85%). Forty percent of the patients were Ann-Arbor stage Ⅰ/Ⅱ and 60% of them were Ann-Arbor stage Ⅲ/Ⅳ. Twelve patients (60%) had a high level of LDH. Eleven patients had a high level of EBV-DNA copies in peripheral blood (55%) before treatment. Thirteen patients were EBER positive. Among the 20 patients, 4 patients died and 16 survived. The median OS was 15.4 months, and the median PFS was 8 months. Eleven patients received CR, 5 achieved PR while the ORR was 80%. The Log-rank test showed a significant association between age and prognosis (P=0.001).
Conclusions There was no correlation between EBER expression and prognosis of NUAT-NKTCL. Patients over 60 years of age had a poor prognosis.