Ifosfamide, etoposide, cytarabine, and methotrexate as salvage chemotherapy in relapsed or refractory aggressive non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma

of these patients obtain long term disease free survival with conventional-dose salvage chernothera~y.'-~ Mye- loablative cytotoxic chemotherapy followed by bone marrow transplanta- tion is one form of treatment that uses a dose intensity that may overcome tumor cell resistance and seems to be the best way to obtain a durable CR in these patients.'*2t4s5 Patients who undergo transplantation while in CR or with minimal tumor burden have a greater chance of long term disease free ~uMva1.~~~~"' Results of a recently published prospective study demonstrate that intensive chemotherapy followed by autologous bone marrow transplantation, as compared with standard treatment, signifi-