Clinical impact of lymphatic spread in patients with limited-stage upper aerodigestive tract NK/T cell lymphoma

ABSTRACT

Background@#We investigated whether distance max , that is, the degree of distance between the upper aerodigestive tract (UAT) mass and the farthest pathologic lymph node, was significantly associated with survival in patients with limited-stage UAT natural killer/T cell lymphoma (NKTCL). @*Methods@#A total of 157 patients who received chemotherapy (CTx) with/without radiotherapy (RTx) were enrolled. @*Results@#In the survival analysis, an elevated lactate dehydrogenase level [progression-free survival (PFS) hazard ratio (HR), 2.948; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.606‒5.404; P ＜0.001; overall survival (OS) HR, 2.619; 95% CI, 1.594‒4.822; P =0.003], short distance max (PFS HR, 0.170; 95% CI, 0.071‒0.410; P ＜0.001; OS HR, 0.142; 95% CI, 0.050‒0.402; P ＜ 0.001), and CTx combined with RTx (HR, 0.168; 95%CI, 0.079‒0.380; P < 0.001; OS HR, 0.193; 95% CI, 0.087‒0.429; P ＜0.001) had an independent predictive value for PFS and OS. @*Conclusion@#The evaluation of the degree of lymphatic spread and local control by CTx combined with RTx is essential in patients with limited-stage UAT NKTCL.