Autologous bone marrow transplantation for advanced stage adult lymphoblastic lymphoma in first complete remission. A pilot study of the non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Co-operative Study Group (NHLCSG).

Twenty successive adult patients with lymphoblastic lymphoma entered a study of sequential chemotherapy consisting of an intensive LSA2-L2-type protocol to induce first complete remission. Twelve patients in first CR (median age 22 years, range 15-43), after receiving a conditioning regimen consisting of cyclophosphamide and total body irradiation, underwent autologous bone marrow transplantation. Of these 12 patients at diagnosis, one was in stage III and 11 in stage IV; 11 showed mediastinal and seven showed bone marrow involvement. The transplant procedure was well tolerated and no treatment-induced deaths occurred. At this time nine patients are alive and well 25-44 months post-transplant (median follow-up 36 months) with an actuarial disease-free survival of 75%. These early results suggest that high-dose chemoradiotherapy followed by autologous bone marrow transplantation may improve long-term disease-free survival in advanced stage adult lymphoblastic lymphoma. In order to draw definite conclusions, however, a larger and randomized study is needed.