Autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

High-dose chemotherapy supported with autologous peripheral stem cell trans plantation is now widely used in the treatment of lymphoma patients. The be nefit of high-dose therapy has been clearly established after relapse in pa tients with an aggressive histological subtype who respond to salvage thera py. However, the use of such treatment also deserves further evaluation in the first line of therapy in patients with adverse prognostic factors. In f ollicular lymphoma, autologous transplantation seems able to induce long-te rm responses in selected clinical situations, but randomized studies are aw aited to evaluate the potential benefit of this approach. In other lymphoma subtypes, the use of high-dose therapy remains experimental and should sti ll be tested in clinical trials. Given the feasibility and the limited toxi city of autologous peripheral stem cell transplantation, the comparison of different therapeutic strategies (optimal timing, treatments modalities) wi ll be facilitated and will allow us to assess the best ways of using this t reatment in lymphoma patients.