BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) of the nasal cavity has unique clinicopathologic features, and optimal treatment regimen remains unclear. This study was to summarize the clinical features, treatment outcomes, and prognostic factors of primary NHL of the nasal cavity at early stage. METHODS: Records of 108 patients with primary NHL of the nasal cavity, consecutively treated at Cancer Center, Sun Yat-sen University from Jun. 1990 to Sep. 2004, were reviewed. All diagnoses were confirmed with pathology and immunochemistry. Seven cases were of B-cell phenotype. Survival prognostic factors were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression model with SPSS12.0 software. RESULTS: Median follow-up time for survived patients was 41 months. The overall complete remission (CR) rate after primary treatment was 67.6%, and CR rates were 80.2% for the patients received radiochemotherapy and 29.6% for the patients received chemotherapy alone. There were evidences indicating systemic relapse in 33 (30.6%) patients. With regard to the control of local, regional, and systemic failure, radiochemotherapy was better than chemotherapy alone. The 5-year overall survival rate was 50.0% for all patients. Both univariate analysis and multivariate analysis showed that pre-treatment history of more than 3 months, primary lesion limited in the nasal cavity, CR after primary treatment, and radiochemotherapy were favorable prognostic factors. CONCLUSIONS: Nasal cavity is frequently involved by peripheral T- and NK-cell lymphomas. Pre-treatment history of disease, extent of primary lesion involvement, and response to the primary treatment may be independent prognostic factors.