Small Cell Variant Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma: Long-Term Remission after Allogeneic Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplant

Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (ALCL) is a peripheral T-cell, non-Hodgkin lymphoma that consists predominantly of large lymphoid cells with expression of CD30 and is often associated with translocations involving the Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (ALK) gene. ALK positive (ALK+) ALCL usually presents at a more advanced stage but has a much better prognosis than ALK negative ALCL. One exception is the small cell variant of ALK+ ALCL, which often affects younger individuals, carries a high incidence of leukemic involvement, and has a very poor prognosis. We present a patient with diagnosis of small cell variant ALK+ ALCL who underwent allogeneic stem cell transplantation and has achieved an ongoing disease-free survival of over 9 years after diagnosis. We also review the literature of small cell variant ALK+ ALCL to determine if stem cell transplantation should be considered in patients with this diagnosis.