Treatment of indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma localized in the head and neck.

A total of 25 patients with indolent non-Hodgkin's lymphoma localized in the head and neck region was analyzed. Of these, 21 patients were classified as clinical Stage I, and 4 as Stage II. In 22 patients the extranodal site was involved, and it was a remarkable characteristic of this series of patients. Overall treatment results were as follows: survival rate 100% at 5 years, and relapse-free survival rate 81% at 2 and 5 years. There was only 1 death at 6 years and 2 months after treatment, and 4 relapses occurred by 2 years after treatment. Relapse was observed in 3 of 8 patients with follicular mixed/follicular medium type, which was in contrast to the other indolent histologies (SL, DSCl, ILL) with very few relapses.