74 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in the head and neck wer
e 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 su
rvival of 42 months, and survival was higher in extranodal(67.3%) than
in nodal locations (51.9%). No statistically significant difference b
etween 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 p
ercentage (71.2%) than extranodal (48%). High-grade tumours seemed to
affect mainly young people.