Oropharyngeal lymphoma: A US population based analysis

•Diffuse large B cell lymphoma is the most common oropharyngeal lymphoma subtype.•Decreased survival was significantly associated with patient age and B symptoms.•Patients with T cell lymphoma had the worse prognosis.•The tonsil was the most common subsite involved.

ObjectivesTo describe the epidemiology and analyze factors determinant of survival in patients with oropharyngeal lymphoma, using the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database.Methods2504 patients with oropharyngeal lymphoma were identified using the most recent SEER database entry from 1976 to 2016. Demographic information, Ann Arbor stage, tumor histopathology and location were collected. Multivariate analysis was used to analyze patient and tumor characteristics associated with survival.ResultsThe mean age of the patients studied was 60.5 years, 58.4% of the subjects were male and 81% were white. Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) was the most common histologic subtype involving 56.9% of cases. The most common subsite of origin was the tonsil, with 71% of lymphomas originating from there. The association of survival with stage, age, tumor location, presence of B symptoms, tumor pathology, gender and race was analyzed using multivariate regression. Decreased survival was significantly associated with patient age p < 0.0001, Ann Arbor staging p = 0.005, the presence of B symptoms p = 0.003 and tumor histopathology (T cell tumors) p = 0.01. Patients with tumors originating from the soft palate were significantly more likely to die as a result of their disease p = 0.03.ConclusionOropharyngeal lymphoma most commonly originates from the tonsil. DLBCL is the most common subtype and has a good prognosis. The presence of B symptoms, tumors originating from the soft palate and patients with T cell tumors have the worst prognosis. This information can potentially be of great utility to the head and neck surgeon discussing prognosis with patients suffering from oropharyngeal lymphoma.