Age

18–65

Sex

ALL

Healthy volunteers

Not accepted

highly-malignant non-Hodgkins-Lymphoma, mantle-cell lymphoma or follicular lymphoma 3°
CNS relapse (meningeal or/and intraparenchymal) with or without systemic lymphoma manifestations
ECOG performance score ≤2
no active infection
negative HIV-serology
adequate renal function (creatinine clearance \> 50 ml/min)
adequate bone marrow function (granulocytes \>1500/μl, platelets \> 80000/μl)
normal bilirubin, AST \< 3 x UNL
negative pregnancy test

newly diagnosed NHL with primary CNS involvement
indolent NHL, lymphoblastic NHL or Burkitt lymphoma
preceding CNS irradiation
pretreatment of CNS relapse other than corticosteroids
immunosuppression, concomitant immunosuppressive therapy, status after organ transplantation or allogenous stem cell transplantation
second cancer other than basalioma or cervical carcinoma in situ within the last 5 years
unfit to receive an intensive chemotherapy
pregnancy or breastfeeding
known intolerance to MTX, ifosfamide, Depocyte, cytarabine, thiotepa, carmustine or etoposide

High-dose Chemotherapy and Stem Cell Transplantation for Central Nervous System (CNS) Relapse of Aggressive Lymphomas