Purpose: To determine the long-term outcome of patients treated at the University of Florida for aggressive non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) of Waldeyer's ring.
Materials and methods: Forty-six patients treated with radiotherapy (RT) at the University of Florida from 1964 to 2006 for biopsy-proven aggressive NHL of Waldeyer's ring were included in this study. Of this group, 20 patients were treated with RT alone and 26 with combined-modality therapy (CMT) with the addition of chemotherapy: 24 patients with induction and 2 with concurrent or adjuvant chemotherapy.
Results: The 5-year and 10-year in-field control rates were 95% and 85%, respectively, and the out-of-field control rates were 67% and 63%, respectively. The 10-year disease-free survival (DFS), cause-specific survival, and overall survival (OS) rates were 47%, 50%, and 37%, respectively. The CMT group had superior 10-year DFS compared with the RT-alone group (57% vs. 37%), but this difference was not statistically significant. No difference in 10-year OS was seen between the CMT group and the RT-alone group.
Conclusions: Similar to other sites, out-of-field recurrences are the primary pattern of failure for NHL of Waldeyer's ring. DFS was superior with CMT compared with RT alone and remains the standard of care.