A SUCCESS STORY OF AN INFANTILE ANAPLASTIC LARGE CELL LYMPHOMA --A CASE
REPORT.
Abstract
Background: Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is an uncommon form of
Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma (NHL) in younger patients, accounting for less than
15% of cases. The median age at presentation is 12 years and is
exceedingly rare in infants. Various prognostic factors, risk
stratification and novel treatment strategies have been studied in
pediatric ALCL. There is no separate data available on the disease
biology, treatment regimens and prognostic factors among infantile ALCL.
Outcomes for infants with ALCL have been reported to be inferior to that
of older children. The long-term Event Free Survival (EFS) in general
among pediatric patients is approximately 70% regardless of the
treatment approach. We report a case of an 8month old infant diagnosed
with ALK positive ALCL with visceral organ involvement stratified as
high risk and treated according to ALCL 99 protocol with excellent
clinical response, on regular follow up and is disease free since
2years.