Background: The incidence and risk factors of central nervous system (CNS) involvement in peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) are still unclear.
Patients and methods: We analyzed 228 patients with PTCLs, excluding cases of extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma and primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, by retrospectively collecting the clinical features and outcomes of the patients.
Results: Twenty events (8.77%, 20/228) of CNS involvement were observed during a median follow-up period of 13.9 months (range 0.03-159.43). Based on univariate analysis, elevated serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level [P = 0.019, relative risk (RR) 5.904, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.334-26.123] and involvement of the paranasal sinus (P = 0.032, RR 3.137, 95% CI 1.105-8.908) adversely affect CNS involvement. In multivariate analysis, both were independently poor prognostic factors for CNS relapse [elevated LDH level: P = 0.011, hazard ratio (HR) 6.716, 95% CI 1.548-29.131; involvement of the paranasal sinus: P = 0.008, HR 3.784, 95% CI 1.420-10.083]. The survival duration of patients with CNS involvement was significantly shorter than that of the patients without CNS involvement (P = 0.009), with median overall survival of 7.60 months (95% CI of 4.92-10.28) versus 27.43 months (95% CI of 0.00-57.38), respectively.
Conclusions: Elevated LDH level and involvement of the paranasal sinus are two risk factors for CNS involvement in patients with PTCLs. Considering the poor prognoses after CNS relapse, prophylaxis should be considered with the presence of any risk factor.