INTRODUCTION
auto‐HSCT in stage IV, DLBCL
LYMPHOMA
Diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common (30–35%) type of B‐cell lymphoma with an incidence of about 5.6 per 100.000 men and women per year.The standard treatment of DLBCL is R‐CHOP immunochemotherapy (ICT).Upfront auto‐HSCT was studied as a way to improve outcomes as a consolidative treatment option in the pre‐rituximab era, but conflicting results were reported.In the last 10 years, several RCT trials compared ICT and upfront auto‐HSCT. A slight improvement of 2‐year failure‐free survival (FFS) was achieved in the DLCL04 trial in DLBCL patients,Two meta‐analysesBased on these results, we performed our retrospective trial to investigate the possible benefit of upfront auto‐HSCT in stage IV high‐intermediate/high‐risk DLBCL.