Successful treatment of disseminated nasal NK/T-cell lymphoma using double autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation

Abstract

Nasal natural killer (NK)/T-cell lymphoma is a rare disease with an aggressive clinical course. Prognosis is generally poor and the disease is invariably fatal after systemic dissemination. We report a patient with aggressive nasal NK/T-cell lymphoma who was resistant to therapy and developed systemic dissemination involving the intestine, skin, and stomach. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was detected by Southern blotting with EBV-terminal repeat probe and by in situ EBV-encoded small nuclear early region-1 hybridization. The patient was treated using double high-dose chemotherapy and autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (auto-PBSCT). Pretransplant conditioning for the first auto-PBSCT was MCVC (high-dose ranimustine, carboplatin, etoposide [VP16], and cyclophosphamide), and for the second auto-PBSCT, modified ICE (high-dose ifosfamide, VP16, and carboplatin). The patient obtained a complete remission and has been free of disease for 3.0 years since the second PBSCT. These observations suggest that double high-dose chemotherapy with PBSCT support may be effective in resistant nasal NK/T-cell lymphoma.