Descriptive epidemiology, trends in incidence and survival analysis in extranodal head and neck lymphoma from 1994 to 2013 in Girona, Spain: a population-based study

Introduction: an epidemiological study is presented, focused on extranodal lymphomas that arise in the head and neck region, including B-cell lymphomas, T-cell lymphomas, Hodgkin’s lymphomas and not otherwise specified (NOS) lymphomas. Methodology: descriptive epidemiology, incidence and its trends and survival are analyzed for extranodal head and neck lymphomas registered in the Cancer Registry of Girona, Spain, from January 1st 1994 to December 31st 2013. Results: 122 cases of extranodal head and neck lymphomas were identified. Of these, 108 were B-cell lymphomas, 5 T-cell lymphomas, 3 Hodgkin’s lymphomas, and 6 malignant lymphomas, NOS. The most frequent histological type was diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, which accounted for 47.5% of all extranodal head and neck lymphomas. In men the most common region for the lymphoma’s presentation were the tonsils (14.7% among all the cases) followed by the nasopharynx (9.8%). In women the most common region were the salivary glands (15.6%) followed by the tonsils (10.6%). In men, a decreasing tendency of incidence was observed for diffuse large B-cell, marginal zone and total B-cell lymphoma, and an increasing tendency was observed for those classified with other B-cell lymphomas. A decreasing incidence of total lymphomas was observed in both sexes. For both sexes, and among all B-cell lymphomas, OS at 5 years was 61.6, being 63.4 for men and 59.6 for women, but there was no significant difference between sexes. Conclusions: extranodal head and neck lymphomas are rather rare. As observed in other reports, incidence increases with the age, and men are the most affected ones. Like these reports, the tonsils obtained the largest number of cases and the most common morphology was diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. The incidence tended to diminish as years passed, and survival was slightly better compared to other reports, which also detected a better survival for women unlike this stud