Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation With Benda-Eam (Bendamustine, Etoposide, Cytarabine, Melphalan) In Aggressive Non Hodgkin And Hodgkin'S Lymphoma

Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation (ASCT) is standard of care in relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma(DLBCL) and other lymphoproliferative disorders (relapsed Hodgkin´s disease, mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) or T-cell lymphoma). BCNU, Etoposide, Ara-C, Melphalan(BEAM) is a standard conditioning regimen, but BCNU is known to be associated with interstitial pneumonia (range 2 to 20%) and an increased risk of death compared with other regimens. Therefore a less toxic conditioning protocol might improve the results in lymphoma patients. Bendamustineshowed promising results in B- and T-cell lymphoma and dose escalation is safe and feasible. Here we report promising results with bendamustinereplacing BCNU in the BEAM regimen described as Benda-EAM, previously published in a phase two dose finding study (Visani, Blood 2011).