Abstract:

Background and purpose: T-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma(T-NHL) has relatively high incidence in Asian countries, and the incidence rate showed an upward tendency. It has a dual characteristic of both ethnic and regional. We conducted this study in order to analyze the clinical characteristics, pathological type and survival of T-NHL in our hospital. Methods: Records of 50 cases with T-NHL treated from Jan. 2002 to Dec. 2012, were analyzed in terms of clinical characteristics, distribution of pathological type and survival. Results: Patients with T-NHL account for 24% of NHL cases in our study. Of the 50 cases, 37 were Han, 13 were Uygur; The most frequent type was NK/T cell lymphoma(NK/TCL)(16/50, 32%). We performed pathological type for each age group: 4 cases with children’s group were all T-lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma(T-LBL)(4/4,100%), the most frequent type of youth and middle age group was NK/TCL(8/20, 40%; 7/13, 53.8%), as the senile group was angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma(AITL)(6/13, 46.2%). There was also a significant difference in pathological type between the stage, with stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ were all NK/ TCL(12/12, 100%), stage Ⅲ-Ⅳ were observed with peripheral T-cell lymphomas-unspecified(PTCL-U)(9/38, 23.7%) and AITL(9/38, 23.7%). The frequent type of Han was NK/TCL(14/37, 37.8%), as the Uygur was T-LBL(5/13, 38.5%). The median overall survival(OS) time was 12 (ranged 0-112) months. The 5 year OS rate was 39%. Both pathological type and age group were important factors influencing survival. The difference in outcome for the pathological type(P<0.05): NK/TCL and anaplastic large cell lymphoma(ALCL) had the better 3 year OS rates(71%, 61%), but PTCL-U and T-LBL had poor prognosis(19%, 7%). Age did a significant effect on OS(P<0.05): children’s group had the worse 5-year OS rate (0%), middle age group had a better prognosis (67%), the OS of the youth group was 35%, for the senile group was 21%. Conclusion: T-NHL in Xinjiang region have their unique clinical characteristics: The overall incidence rate was similar with the domestic report, however, higher than the reports abroad. The incidence of Han was higher than Uygur. Pathological type showed in this study was different from that in European and American countries. There was a significant difference in distribution of pathological type in different age group, stage and nation. The long-term survival and prognosis of patients in Xinjiang region was poor. Both pathological type and age group were important factors influencing survival.

Key words: T-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, pathological type, Nation, Overall survival