Head and neck non-Hodgkin's lymphomas

74 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in the head and neck were studied and 21 out of 74 (28.4%) had a primary extranodal location. The most commonly affected lymph nodes were the lateral cervical (48%); the extranodal NHL occurred most frequently in Waldeyer's ring (19%) and orbit (5.4%). Overall 10-year survival was 55.2% with a median survival of 42 months, and survival was higher in extranodal (67.3%) than in nodal locations (51.9%). No statistically significant difference between the survival of high-grade and low-grade tumours was observed. There was, on the contrary, a correlation between stage of the disease and survival of the patients. Most cases were B-cell lymphomas (91.8%). Nodal NHL presented at diagnosis in an advanced stage in a higher percentage (71.2%) than extranodal (48%). High-grade tumours seemed to affect mainly young people.