Autologous bone marrow transplantation for primary nasal T/NK cell lymphoma

Primary nasal T or NK cell lymphoma is rarely seen in the Western population but is more common in the Orientals. Although it often presents with localized disease, the prognosis is generally poor. Long-term remission is seen in only 50% of patients with stage I disease despite aggressive treatment with chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and is invariably fatal if disseminated. Conventional chemotherapy for relapsed disease is usually not successful. Since 1992, three patients with relapsed primary nasal T/NK cell lymphoma have received high-dose chemotherapy with autologous bone marrow rescue at Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong. High-dose cyclophosphamide, BCNU and etoposide were used for conditioning. Two of them had a favourable response and remained in complete remission at 12 and 44 months post-transplant. The third patient unfortunately had a systemic relapse 6 months after the transplant. It appears from this experience that, like other aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas, high-dose chemotherapy and autologous bone marrow rescue is an effective treatment for relapsed primary nasal lymphoma following failure of conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy.