Eradication of residual post chemotherapy SLVL bone marrow infiltration after antiviral treatment for hepatitis C virus infection

We observed a complete remission of splenic lymphoma with villous lymphocytes in a patient with chronic hepatitis C virus infection after successful treatment of the viral infection with interferon alfa-2b plus ribavirin. The patient had previously received chemotherapy with Chlorambucil obtaining only a partial remission of the lymphoma. A temporal relation between the complete haematologic response and HCV-RNA clearance was evident. This observation provides further evidence that in HCV positive patients with splenic lymphoma with villous lymphocytes antiviral therapy may be an alternative to chemotherapy and that HCV infection may have a role in lymphoma pathogenesis.