Encouraging experience in the treatment of nasal type extra-nodal NK/T-cell lymphoma in a non-Asian population

Abstract

Extra-nodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type (EN-NK/TCL-NT), is rare in the Western world. We launched the current single-institutional retrospective study with Institutional Review Board approval to better understand the disease. 43 EN-NK/TCL-NT patients treated from 1996 to 2014 were analyzed, including 10 (23%) Asians and 33 (76%) non-Asians. 19/26 (73%) early-stage patients received short-course chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy. 14/17 (82%) advanced-stage patients received primary chemotherapy. Complete response rate was significantly higher in the modified-SMILE group than the accelerated-CHOP group (80% vs. 30%, p = 0.015). The 2-year overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were 60% and 40%, respectively. Early-stage disease had significantly higher 2-year OS (87% vs. 21%) and PFS (56% vs.18%) than advanced-stage (p < 0.001). Ethnicity had no prognostic difference. EN-NK/TCL-NT in non-Asians shared similar disease characteristics and treatment outcomes with Asians. Most early-stage patients have achieved durable remissions. Management of advanced-stage disease remains challenging, with frequent progression and high mortality.

Keywords:

• Drug therapy
• ethnology
• extranodal NK-T-cell lymphomas
• radiotherapy
• SMILE

Potential conflict of interest

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10428194.2016.1180689.

Funding

This research was funded in part through the Lymphoma Foundation and the Connecticut Sports Foundation. MSKCC is supported by the NIH/NCI Cancer Center Support Grant P 30 CA008748. Dr S. Qi was supported by the Dr Mortimer Lacher, MD, fellowship in Radiation Oncology.