Prognostic Indicators Involved In NK T Cell Lymphoma

The term NK T cell lymphoma refers to one of two subtypes of lymphoma that affect the NK (Natural Killer) cells of the immune system. They are:

This subtype of lymphoma most often occurs in the nose or nasopharynx, and presents first as a nasal obstruction and/or nasal discharge.

Prognostic Indicators

Certain specific factors have been found to serve as fairly reliable prognostic indicators of extranodal NK T cell lymphoma. They are:

  • Stage at diagnosis (the lower the better)
  • Age (under age 60 = better prognosis)
  • Absence or presence of B symptoms (the absence of B symptoms suggests a better prognosis)
  • Performance status (i.e. how affected is the patient by the disease? The less affected, the better the prognosis).

Ultimately, NK T cell lymphoma has very poor survival rates and general prognoses. For instance, overall survival of patients with extranodal NK T cell lymphoma is 30-40%, meaning that 3 or 4 of every ten patients with this disease is expected to be alive five years from diagnosis. The news is much worse for aggressive NK cell leukemia—most patients do not survive more than a few months after initial symptoms appear.

Treating NK T Cell Lymphoma

There is currently no clear consensus in the cancer community regarding the best and most effective first-line treatment for NK T cell lymphoma. In some cases, radiotherapy is the preferred treatment, since NK T cell lymphoma does not traditionally respond well to conventional chemotherapeutic regimens, but to this end they are the only modes of treatment that have been explored to any reasonable degree. Depending on the disease and the patient, treatment may include chemotherapy regimens such as CHOP, DA-EPOCH, or SMILE, followed by radiation.

Sources

  • Wong KF. NK cell neoplasias. Atlas Genet Cytogenet Oncol Haematol.
  • National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology: Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas, V.I.

Photo: Pexels

More Articles

More Articles

Amazon.com is pleased to have the Lymphoma Information Network in the family of Amazon.com associates. We've agreed to ship items...

The question ought to be what are myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), since this is a group of similar blood and bone marrow diseases that...

Merkel Cell Carcinoma (MCC) is a very rare and aggressive skin cancer that usually develops when a person is in his or her 70s. It is...

Radiation Therapy Topics

...

At some point, the Seattle biotech company Cell Therapeutics Inc (CTI) should earn an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for utter and...

Site Beginnings

This site was started as Lymphoma Resource Page(s) in 1994. The site was designed to collect lymphoma...

Three papers appearing in the journal Blood and pointing towards a regulator-suppressor pill could offer hope to blood cancer...

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted a third so-called Breakthrough Therapy Designation for the investigational oral...

The US Food and Drug Administration today has approved an expanded use of Imbruvica (ibrutinib) in patients with...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced that it has granted "Breakthrough Therapy Designation" for the investigational agent...

According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team from the University of California, San...

Pharmacyclics has announced that the company has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for...

New research suggests that frontline radioimmunotherapy...

Gilead Sciences has announced results of the company's Phase II study of its investigational compound idelalisib, an oral inhibitor of...

Sitemap