Early or Up-Front Radiotherapy Improved Survival of Localized Extranodal NK/T-Cell Lymphoma, Nasal-Type in the Upper Aerodigestive Tract

Purpose To investigate the role of early or up-front radiotherapy (RT), the optimal RT dose required to achieve appropriate treatment outcome and prognostic factors for patients with localized extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal-type, in the upper aerodigestive tract. Methods and Materials Eighty-two patients were reviewed. Eight patients were treated with chemotherapy (CT) alone, 9 patients received RT alone, and 65 patients were given combined modality treatment of CT and RT (CMT). Of those 74 patients receiving RT, 31 patients were given up-front RT, whereas CT was the initial therapy for 43 patients and 41 of those 43 patients received early RT. Results Five-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were 52.3% and 39.2%, respectively. RT was the only independent prognostic factor for both OS and DFS at both the univariate and multivariate level. The 5-year OS and DFS were better in patients receiving ≥54 Gy of RT as compared with that of