Long-term disease control of refractory anaplastic large cell lymphoma with vinblastine.

Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a unique clinical and pathologic subtype of lymphoma characterized by the proliferation of large, highly pleomorphic CD30-positive cells. Overall 70% to 80% of children with ALCL are cured with modern chemotherapy regimens, but the disease is often resistant to multiple therapies after relapse. Single agent vinblastine therapy has been effective in some cases of refractory ALCL. We report a case of ALCL originally diagnosed in an 8-year-old girl. After relapse, the disease was refractory to multiagent chemotherapy, but has showed remarkable response to, and dependence on, single agent vinblastine treatment for almost 7 years.