Successful treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with clarithromycin and prednisolone

We report a case of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treated successfully with clarithromycin (CAM) and prednisolone (PSL). A 71-year-old woman presented with fever and cervical pain. DLBCL was diagnosed based on histological results from lymph node biopsy. Cervical pain was thought to be caused by the invasion of lymphoma cells into the cervical vertebrae. She initially received radiotherapy for the cervical lesion. She did not receive conventional chemotherapy because of the risk of recurrent non-tuberculous mycobacteria infection; therefore, she was treated with 20 mg/day PSL and 800 mg/day CAM to induce apoptosis in lymphoma cells. Complete remission was achieved after 6 months. The present findings suggest that CAM and PSL may be effective in some cases of DLBCL.