ABSTRACT
Objective:To report the characteristic of clinical manifestation and cell immunophenotype in cases with primary extra-nodular non-Hodgkin′s lymphoma(PE-NHL) in head and neck.Methods.One hundred and fifteen patients with PE-NHL in head and neck were reviewed,which were diagnosed by pathology in the pas ten years.The features of clinical manifestation and cell immunophenotype in these patients wre analyzed.Results:Twenty to forty years old was most common (42.0%) ages range in the group of patients with PE-NHL.Nasal cavity was the most commonly involved site (36.6%,42/115), next the PE-NHL respectively occurred in nasopharynx(26.1%,30/115),tonsilla(20.1%,24/115) and oral cavity (8.7%,10/115).Only in a few cases the PE-NHL occurred in oroharynx,laryngopharynx and larynx.The patients mainly showed the symptoms of primary lesion located.The lump,ulcer or both signs were observed on primary position,the lump was the most common sign.Cell immunophenotype resulte displayed 51.2% of the PE-NHL originating from T cells,48.8% originating from B cells.Most of nasal PE-NHL originated from T cells ,while most of tonsilla and oral PE-NHL originated from B cells.About half of nasopharyngeal PE-NHL originated from T cells,another half origiated from B cells.Conclusion:The PE-NHL in head and neck mostly occurred in nasal cavity ,then occurred in nasopharynx,tonsilla and oral cavity.The clinical manifestation in the patients with the PE-NHL lacked characteristic symptoms.Sometimes these PE-NHL were confused with other malignant tumours in primary position,which were easily made a misdiagnosis.Therefore discrimination and diagnosis have to be made by pathology and immunohistochemistry.