BACKGROUND: Extranodal NK/T cell lymphoma, nasal type (ENKTL-NT) is difficult to distinguish from nasal polyps and inverted papilloma, leading to its high misdiagnosis ratio. The aim of this study was to investigate its potential prognostic indicators.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate overall survival (OS) rate. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to analyze risk ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

RESULTS: Nasal ala infiltration and nasal floor thickness >2.0 mm or nasal septum thickness >2.5 mm were potential prognostic factors for OS (p=0.0323 and 0.0072, respectively). Cox proportional-hazards regression indicated that high LMP1 expression and the nasal floor thickness >2.0 mm or nasal septum thickness >2.5 mm were the independent risk factors for poor OS of ENKTL-NT (HR=3.0655, p=0.028; HR=2.3650, p=0.0452, respectively). In the subgroup analysis, the OS rate was lower when the nasal floor thickness >2.0 mm or nasal septum thickness >2.5 mm in the patients who had high expression of LMP1 (p=0.0651), whereas high LMP1 expression increased the risk of worse prognostic outcome in patients with deep infiltration thickness. Thus, high LMP1 expression may contribute to the tissue invasion of ENKTL-NT.

CONCLUSIONS: Any patient with nasal ala soft-tissue invasion, nasal floor thickness >2.0 mm/nasal septum thickness >2.5 mm on CT imaging or high LMP1 expression should prompt immediate histopathologic diagnosis to rule out ENKTL-NT in clinical practice.

Keywords: Leukemia-Lymphoma, Adult T-Cell, Lymphoma, Extranodal NK-T-Cell, TNF Receptor-Associated Factor 2