Primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma

Primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBL) is a clinicopathological entity among the world health organization classification of lymphoid neoplasms. PMBL often concerns young adults, and the disease remains a localized disease in the majority of cases. The outcome of patients with PMBL is variable and unlike diffuse large cell lymphomas, the international prognostic index seems to be less applicable to such disease. The combination of rituximab and chemotherapy is the gold standard treatment of patients with good prognosis features and allows high cure rates. However, high-dose chemotherapy supported by peripheral blood stem cell support is often warranted in poor-prognosis patients. The use of positrons emission tomography examination is more and more used in such situations to select the best therapeutic strategy. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.