Korean J Otolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2004 Aug;47(8):783-786.

A Case of Natural Killer T-cell Lymphoma of the Tongue

• Cho SG
• Lee DH
• Kim HR
• Cho KJ

Abstract

Malignant lymphoma, which represents about 5.4% of all neoplasms and more significantly 19-28% of malignant neoplasms, is the most common non-epithelial malignancy in the head and neck area and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma accounts for 11.4% of all lymphoma in Koreans. Natural killer/T-cell (NK/T-cell) lymphoma is a lymphoma of the putative natural killer cell lineage. NK/T-cell neoplasms are generally rare, but they are more common in people of the Oriental, Mexican and South American descent. These neoplasms are highly aggressive and they show a strong association with Epstein-Barr virus. The preferential site of extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma is the nasal cavity and there has been no report of NK/T-cell lymphoma developing from the tongue in the oral cavity. We experienced one rare case of extranasal NK/T-cell lymphoma of the tongue, and to our knowledge, this was the first case in Korea. Thus, we report this case with a review of the literature.

Keyword

T cell lymphoma; Natural killer cell; Tongue

MeSH Terms

Head
Herpesvirus 4, Human
Killer Cells, Natural
Korea
Lymphoma*
Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin
Lymphoma, T-Cell
Mouth
Nasal Cavity
Natural Killer T-Cells*
Neck
Tongue*