[The role of radiation therapy of diffuse large cell lymphoma localized in the head and neck].

Eighty-one patients with diffuse large cell lymphoma localized in the head and neck were treated with radiation between 1971 and 1981. Of these, 52 had Waldeyer's ring disease, 14 nodal, and 15 extranodal disease. Overall survival and relapse-free survival rates at five years after radiation therapy alone were 69% and 52%, respectively. Five-year disease-free rates of patients with Waldeyer's ring disease were 91% in stage I, and 71% in stage II, which are much better than those of other extranodal and nodal diseases. According to mass size, the five-year relapse-free rate for the small-mass less than 5 cm in diameter group was much better (72%) than that for the large-mass group (29%).