title: Predictors of survival of natural killer/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type, in a non-Asian population: a single cancer centre experience.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Natural killer/T-cell lymphoma (NKTCL), part of T-cell and NK-cell neoplasms in the World Health Organisation (WHO) classification, is an aggressive lymphoma with poor prognosis more predominantly seen in Asian and South American countries. This study evaluates the factors associated with survival among patients with newly diagnosed NKTCL in Peru.
  
  
  METHODS
  Information was abstracted from medical records (MR) for all NKTCL patients >13 years of age at the Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplasicas (INEN) between 2002 and 2011. The estimate of the survival curves was performed by the Kaplan-Meier method, and the difference was computed by the log-rank test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Around 226 MR were reviewed, 153 met the selection criteria, the median age was 40 years (14-84). The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 20 months, five year PFS was 42.6%, univariable analysis (UA) showed statistical significance (p < 0.05) for male sex, non-nasal primary site, advanced clinical stages, B symptoms, poor performance status, regional nodal involvement (RNI). In the multivariate analysis the only poor prognostic factors was primary non-nasal (Hazard ratio (HR) = 2.40, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.43- 4.02, P = 0.01). The median overall survival (OS) was 49 months, five year OS was 48.9%, UA showed statistical significance for non-nasal primary site, advanced clinical stages, B symptoms, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) > normal, RNI and local tumour invasion. In the multivariate analysis, primary non-nasal was the only poor prognostic factor with HR = 2.57, 95% CI = 1.37-4.83, P = 0.03.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In Peru, OS of NKTCL is similar to other countries. This result suggests that non-nasal NKTCL is the only poor prognostic factor of OS and PFS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas, de Enfermedades Neoplásicas, Lima 34, Perú.
authors.forename: Jule
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vásquez
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas, de Enfermedades Neoplásicas, Lima 34, Perú.
authors.forename: Mariana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Serrano
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas, de Enfermedades Neoplásicas, Lima 34, Perú.
authors.forename: Lourdes
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas, de Enfermedades Neoplásicas, Lima 34, Perú.
authors.forename: Cristian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pacheco
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplásicas, de Enfermedades Neoplásicas, Lima 34, Perú.
authors.forename: Shirley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Quintana
keywords: chemotherapy; natural killer/T-cell lymphoma; predictors; survival