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A rare case of human herpes virus 8-unrelated primary effusion lymphoma-like lymphoma: a report and review of the literature. APMIS 2009; 117:222-29. Primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) is a very rare type of lymphoma usually confined to the body cavities predominantly in immunosuppressed patients infected with human herpes virus 8 (HHV-8). The new term for HHV-8 independent PEL is HHV8-unrelated PEL-like lymphoma. We describe an 89-year-old human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-negative male patient with HHV8-unrelated PEL-like lymphoma in the pleura. No hepatosplenomegaly or lymphadenopathy was detected. Chest radiography and computed tomography revealed right pleural effusion, but no evidence of tumor mass or lymph node enlargement. Cytological analysis of the pleural effusion revealed a high-grade lymphoma with round nuclei, prominent nucleoli and abundant cytoplasm with immunophenotypes positive for CD45, CD30, CD38, CD7 and CD71. Because of the advanced age, no chemotherapy was given. Effusion resolved spontaneously. One year after the diagnosis, a new pleural effusion developed at the left side. Following thoracentesis and pleurodesis, the patient remained in complete remission for 40 months. To date, 30 cases of HHV8-unrelated PEL-like lymphoma/HIV negative have been reported in the literature. The outcome of the HHV8-unrelated PEL-like lymphoma patients who were HIV negative seems to be better than HIV- and HHV-8-positive PEL.

Bortezomib may be an effective and safe therapeutic option for patients with POEMS syndrome.

The AETHERA trial reported an increased progression‐free survival (PFS) when brentuximab vedotin (BV) was used as maintenance therapy in high‐risk Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). Thus, we aimed to determine the impact and safety of BV as maintenance after ASCT in real‐world patients. Seventy‐five patients with relapsed/refractory HL started on BV consolidation therapy after ASCT due to high risk of relapse, between January 2016 and July 2019, from 25 institutions, were included in the study. The median follow‐up time was 26 months. The most common high‐risk features were primary refractory or relapsed disease <12 months (n = 61), lack of complete response (CR) to the last salvage regimen (n = 51), and having had at least two salvage regimens (n = 29). At the time of analysis, 42 patients completed consolidation courses, and BV was discontinued in 33 patients. Fifty patients had an ongoing response (CR in 41, PR in 6, and SD in 3 patients), 25 had progressed. Ten died in the follow‐up, eight with progressive disease and two due to infection while in CR. The 2‐year PFS and OS rates were 67.75% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.55–0.77) and 87.61% (95% CI: 0.76–0.94), respectively. Seventeen patients (23%) received BV in the pre‐ASCT treatment lines, and there was no survival difference between the BV‐naïve and BV‐exposed groups. The most common adverse events were neutropenia (27%) and peripheral neuropathy (21%). Sixteen patients (21.3%) experienced grade 3 or 4 toxicity. BV was discontinued due to adverse event in 12 patients. Consolidation with BV after ASCT can achieve a 2‐year PFS of 67.75% (95% CI: 0.55–0.75) with an acceptable toxicity profile.

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