Rituximab and DHAP followed by intensive therapy with autologous stem-cell transplantation as first-line therapy for mantle cell lymphoma.

We report on a series of 24 patients with newly diagnosed mantle cell lymphoma treated with four to six courses of DHAP-rituximab followed by autologous stem cell transplantation for patients <65 years. Three-year overall survival (OS) and event free survival (EFS) rates were 69% and 65% respectively, for the 24 patients. In intent-to-treat analysis, 3-year OS and EFS were 75% and 76% for the 17 patients < 65 years old. This treatment is quite feasible and compares favourably with other regimens.