Abstract
Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphomas of the head and neck occurs with chronic inflammation in extranodal organs such as the salivary gland, thyroid gland, and Waldeyer’s ring.
In the 20-years from 1990 to 2009, we treated 15 patients with head and neck MALT lymphoma. None undergoing fine-needle aspiration biopsy was diagnosed with MALT lymphoma before surgery or open biopsy. Four had tumors, resected and remainder open biopsy on, head and neck masses for final pathological diagnosis. Three were treated using general R-CHOP chemotherapy, i.e. standard CHOP with rituximab. Three had radiotherapy alone with 30-40 Gy, and three chemoradiotherapy, resulting in complete response for all. Low-grade or indolent malignant lymphoma such as MALT lymphoma is often observed long-term, necessitating frequent biopsy or resection of the mass for diagnosis.
