[Non-Hodgkin's malignant lymphomas of the nasopharynx. Apropos of 24 cases treated at the Institut Gustave-Roussy].

Twenty-four patients with non Hodgkin's lymphoma of nasopharynx were treated in the Institut Gustave-Roussy, France, between 1976 and 1983. Mean age of patients was 53 years and the male/female sex ratio was 2. Symptomatology was immediately suggestive of a lesion in the nasopharynx in 21 of the 24 patients, and histology gave an unfavorable prognosis (diffuse large cell tumors) in 71% of cases. Complete investigations showed the lymphoma to be relatively limited in extent in the majority of cases (68% of stages I and II). These findings are in agreement with published reports. The 4 patient with stage I disease were treated by irradiation alone and are all alive without recurrence after 43 months. The 11 patients with stage II lesions received combined chemo-radiotherapy, and at 42-month follow up 8 were alive without recurrence (1 patient died of intercurrent illness). Results of conventional chemotherapy (CHVmP) in patients with stages III and IV were disappointing, however: only one patient survived for 60 months (after a cerebral recurrence treated by irradiation). Although current therapy is effective for stage I and II lesions, patients with stages III and IV require more aggressive therapy recently developed: heavy multiple chemotherapy, and even intensive chemotherapy-total body irradiation and bone marrow graft.