Outcome of relapsed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients after allogeneic and autologous transplantation.

A retrospective review of 58 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) relapse or progression after autologous bone marrow transplantation (auto BMT), peripheral stem cell transplantation (PSCT), or allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (allo BMT) between November 1988 and December 1997 was performed. Forty-six (79%) patients had autologous transplant and 12 (21%) patients had allogeneic transplant. Median time to relapse post-transplant was 4.8 months with 49 relapses within 12 months after transplant. Overall 5-year survival was 22% (auto BMT or PSCT 25%, allo BMT 18%, p = 0.38) with a median survival of 10 months (auto BMT or PSCT 10.2 months, allo BMT 7 months, p = 0.38). Thirty-five patients received salvage therapy and, of these, 13 demonstrated objective response. The 3-year survival of responders and non-responders was 55 and 14% and median survivals were 27.8 and 8 months, respectively (p = 0.02). Interval between BMT and relapse (p = 0.0001), and response to salvage therapy (p = 0.02) were the only significant predictors of survival.