clinical feature of extranodal presentation of non hodgkin lymphoma in head and neck

non hodgkin lymphoma (nhl) constitutes 5% of all head & neck cancer. the incidence of it has been increased over the last four decades. one of main characteristic of nhl is extranodal presentation that has different pattern in various part of world. a retrospective was designed in a tertiary referral center. it has been done between january 1996 and march 2006. all clinical and pathological characteristics were evaluated. 129 patients were included in this study, 89 male and 49 female. the mean age was 49 year. the most common site of involvement was waldeyer's ring and the most common presenting symptom was cervical mass. 48% of patients had lymphadenopathy and 12% had b symptom. the most common histologic type was diffuse large cell lymphoma. in our series male to female ratio was 2.2 that are more than other studies .it seems that extranodal presentation is more common in iranian patients than other population.