Clinical study of malignant lymphoma of head and neck in the nasal cavity and Waldyer's ring.

Clinical outcome of fifty-one cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma limited to the head and neck were studied for differences with involvement of one of two sites: Waldyer's ring, and the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses taken together. The median survival for patients with involvement of Waldyer's ring was 58.6 months, and for the other group, 10.3 months. The patients with involvement of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses responded poorly to treatment and the lymphoma rapidly progressed. In these patients, the lymphomas were not of the diffuse small cell type, which has a relatively good prognosis: but T cell type. The poor outcome with involvement of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses may be due to histological and immunological factors, and to inadequate therapy. Early combination chemotherapy might give better results for this group.