Severe motor aphasia after reinfusion of cryopreserved autologous stem cells after myeloablative conditioning

Autologous peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) are usually cryopreserved before high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) and autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT). The freezing process requires the addition of cryoprotectants such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), which is vital for cell viability in frozen aliquots. DMSO has a number of well-described side effects. However, severe neurologic side effects assigned to DMSO are exceedingly rare.A 64-year-old female underwent HDCT followed by PBSCT as consolidation therapy in relapsed high-grade (Grade 3B) Stage IIIA follicular lymphoma. PBSCs were mobilized using granulocyte-colony stimulating factor and plerixafor after the second cycle of R-DHAP (rituximab, dexamethasone, high-dose Ara-C, cisplatin) salvage chemotherapy. A total of 7.18 × 10This is, to our knowledge, the first report to describe an episode of severe motor aphasia during PBSCT. Given the close timely correlation with PBSCT, this episode appears to be caused by dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and might possibly have been prevented by use of lower concentrations of DMSO.