[High-grade non-Hodgkin lymphoma: diagnosis and therapy]

High grade non-Hodgkin's lymphomas comprise a group of heterogenous disorders of the lymphatic system with aggressive clinical behaviour. Extranodal disease manifestations are common, especially in immunocompromised patients [e.g. AIDS]. High-grade NHL are chemo- and radiosensitive. Anthracyclin-containing chemotherapy regimens have led to a significant improvement in prognosis. The CHOP-regime, consisting of doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, oncovin and prednisolon, is the standard therapy that should be given outside of clinical trials. Age, bad performance status, elevated serum-LDH, presence of more than one extranodal manifestation and disease stage III or IV have been defined as clinically relevant prognostic factors. Current treatment strategies include dose intensification by interval shortening and dose escalation as well as high-dose chemotherapy, followed by autologous stem cell rescue. Patients receiving these experimental therapies should be treated within multicenter clinical trials.