To date, high-dose therapy (HDT) followed by autologous stem-cell transplantation (ASCT) is the reference treatment for patients with relapsed or primary refractory aggressive B-cell NHL, provided the disease is sensitive to second-line chemotherapy. Among patients with chemosensitive disease, the remission status at transplant has a significant impact on the outcome, because patients in complete remission (CR) before HDT achieve better long-term progression-free survival (PFS) than patients who undergo transplantation in partial remission (PR). Standard salvage chemotherapy for aggressive lymphoma does not exist. Commonly used second-line regimens include dexamethasone, cytarabine, cisplatin (DHAP), ESHAP (etoposide, methylprednisone, cytarabine, cisplatin), mini-BEAM (carmustine, etoposide, cytarabine, melphalan) and ICE (ifosfamide, carboplatin, etoposide). These regimens produce an overall response rate (ORR) of around 60%, and CR rates of 25% to 35%. More effective salvage regimens are needed in order to maximize the number of patients in CR prior to ASCT.