[Correspondence] Rituximab and autologous stem-cell transplantation for high-risk diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

In The Lancet Oncology, Annalisa Chiappella and colleagues1 reported that abbreviated rituximab-dose-dense chemotherapy followed by R-MAD (rituximab plus high-dose cytarabine plus mitoxantrone plus dexamethasone) and high-dose BEAM chemotherapy (carmustine, etoposide, cytarabine, and melphalan) plus autologous stem-cell transplantation reduced the risk of treatment failure compared with full course rituximab-dose-dense chemotherapy (2-year failure-free survival 71% [95% CI 64–77] vs 62% [55–68]; hazard ratio [HR] 0·65, 95% CI 0·47–0·91, stratified log-rank test p=0·012), but resulted in no difference in 5-year overall survival in young patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (78% [95% CI 71–83] vs 77% [71–83]; HR 0·98, 95% CI 0·65–1·48, stratified log-rank test p=0·91).

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