Long-Term Remission of Primary Bone Marrow Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treated with High-Dose Chemotherapy

Copyright © 2012 Hiroshi Kazama et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Primary bone marrow diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a rare type of extranodal lymphoma with poor prognosis. Here, we report a case of primary bone marrow DLBCL successfully treated with high-dose chemotherapy and rescued by in vivo rituximab-purged autologous stem cells. A 39-year-old woman visited our hospital because of anemia. Bone marrow examination revealed a large B-cell lymphoma invasion. An 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography scan revealed disseminated bone marrow uptake without evidence of dissemination at other sites. These findings led to a diagnosis of primary bone marrow DLBCL. Our patient underwent R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisolone) chemotherapy and achieved complete remission. Subsequently, she received high-dose chemotherapy with an in vivo rituximab-purged autologous stem cell transplant. Seven years have passed since the transplantation, and she remains in remission. This suggests that transplantation of an in vivo rituximab-purged autograft is a promising strategy for primary bone marrow DLBCL. 1