High-dose therapy for lymphoma

Use of modern chemoradiotherapy for Hodgkin's disease and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma has increased the number of patients with these malignancies who are cured. However, patients who fail to achieve or maintain a complete remission using these advanced therapies have a poor prognosis and are appropriate candidates for high-dose therapy that requires some type of hematopoietic stem cell support. The patterns of use of this therapy in such patients, the attempts to predict which patients will most benefit from high-dose therapy, and the various ancillary measures that can be taken to decrease the toxicity of high-dose therapy with stem cell rescue are the subject of this review.