Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in T-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.

T-cell non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (T-NHL) are uncommon malignancies that represent approximately 10% of all NHL. With few exceptions T-NHL have generally been reported to have a worse prognosis compared with B-cell lymphomas. Standard therapy for most T-NHL still need to be defined. To elucidate the feasibility and efficacy, we retrospectively analysed the data of 11 patients who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation from July 1991 to july 2006. Five female and five male patients with a matched sibling donor and a female mismatched underwent a transplant. The median age was 22 years (16 – 34). Six patients were diagnosed as lymphoblastic T, two were anaplastic large cell, two were peripheral T-cell unspecified and one was NK/T extranodal nasal-type. One was in first hard remission, three in second remission, one in third complete remission, one in early first relapse, one in second partial remission and four had refractory disease. Six patients were conditioned with TBI + cyclophosphamide (CY-TBI) and five with busulfan 16 mg/kg and melphalan 140 mg/sqm (Bu-Mel). Graft versus host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis was done with cyclosporin and short course methotrexate for most of the cases. 63 % had acute GVHD grade I to III and 45% had chronic GVHD. Overall survival is 36%. Four of the 11 patients are alive, still in complete remission, after one year, 12 years, 14 years, and 15 years from transplantation. Two of these patients were conditioned with CY-TBI and two with Bu-Mel. Allogeneic transplant can be useful to treat advanced T-NHL patients.