CLINICAL ANALYSIS OF MALIGNANT-LYMPHOMAS OF TONSILS

Data of 38 patients with primary tonsil lymphoma, treated during the p ast 14 years was analysed. All cases were non-Hodgkin lymphomas. There were 11 patients with Stage I, 14 with Stage II, 8 with Stage III, an d 4 with Stage IV tonsillar lymphomas. The applied chemotherapies were CHOP or MACOP-B regimen. The overall 5-year survival rate was 64.4%. Further analysis of the intermediate grade group showed that 5-year su rvival rates were 72.7% for patients younger than 60 years old, in con trast to 35.0% for patients aged 60 or older (p = 0.0049). Five-year s urvival rates were 100% for Stage I, 32.4% for Stage II, 55.6% for Sta ge III, and 100% for Stage IV patients (p = 0.0878). In patients with Stage II tonsillar lymphomas, 5-year survival rates were below 100% fo r CHOP regimen, 100% for MACOP-B regimen, 66.7% for radiation alone, a nd 0% for radiation followed by chemotherapy (p = 0.1966). In patients with Stage III tonsillar lymphomas, 5-year survival rates were below 100% for MACOP-B regimen, and 0% for initial radiation followed by che motherapy (p = 0.2568). The factors influencing survival were age, sta ge, and treatment modality. For Stage I patients without bulky mass, r adiation therapy is sufficient. For Stage II patients or Stage I patie nts with a bulky mass, CHOP regimen (followed by radiation) is the cho ice of treatment. For Stage III or IV patients, MACOP-B regimen is pro mising.