Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical and pathological features, treatment and prognosis in primary nonHodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) of the tonsil. Methods Data of 21 patients with tonsil NHL treated in Tianjin Medical University General Hospital from Jan 2007 to Jan 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. Results A total of 21 cases of original tonsil NHL accounted for 2.6% (21/807) of pathological diagnosis of tonsil surgery during the same period. There were 13 males and 8 females, the mean age was（50.8±12.9）years old. The unilateral disease were 19 cases (90.5%). The pathological classification: 20 cases (95.2%) were B-cell subtype including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) 13 cases (61.9%), follicular lymphoma (FL) 4 cases (19.0%) and mucosa associated lynmphoid tissue (MALT) 3 cases (14.3%); 1 case was T-cell subtype (4.8%). According to the Ann-Arbor standard, 18 cases (85.7%) were stage Ⅰ-Ⅱ, 3 cases (14.3%) were stage Ⅲ - Ⅳ . The 5 year survival of stage Ⅰ - Ⅱ patients was 71.4%, of stage Ⅲ - Ⅳ patients was 0%. Conclusion Primary tonsil NHL is rare and the prognosis at early stages is good. The key to improve the 5-year survival rate is to pay attention to the early diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

Key words: lymphoma, non-Hodgkin, tonsillar neoplasms, palatine tonsil, pathology, prognosis