Radiotherapy studies and extra-nodal non-Hodgkin lymphomas, progress and challenges

Extra-nodal lymphomas may arise in any organ, and different histological subtypes occur in distinct patterns. Prognosis and treatment depend not only on the histological subtype and disease extent, but also on the particular involved extra-nodal organ. The clinical course and response to treatment for the more common extra-nodal organs, e.g. stomach, Waldeyer's ring, skin and brain, are fairly well known and show significant variation. A few randomised trials have been carried out testing the role of radiotherapy in these lymphomas. However, for most extra-nodal lymphomas, randomised trials have not been carried out, and treatment decisions are made on small patient series and extrapolations from nodal lymphomas. Hopefully, wide international collaboration will make controlled clinical trials possible in the less common extra-nodal lymphomas. Modern highly conformal radiotherapy allows better coverage of extra-nodal lymphomatous involvement with better sparing of normal tissues. The necessary radiation doses and volumes need to be defined for the different extra-nodal lymphoma entities. The challenge is to optimise the use of radiotherapy in the modern multimodality treatment of extra-nodal lymphomas.