Combination Chemotherapy Followed By Stem Cell Transplant in Treating Young Patients With Progressive or Relapsed Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma

OBJECTIVES: Primary * Improve the probability of event-free survival in children and adolescents with early progression of anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) and/or relapse of ALCL with CD3-positive immunophenotype treated with reinduction combination chemotherapy followed by allogeneic or autologous stem cell transplantation. * Determine whether a conditioning regimen comprising carmustine, etoposide phosphate, cytarabine, and melphalan (BEAM) (without total body irradiation) for autologous stem cell transplantation is an effective treatment for patients with relapsed CD3-negative ALCL occurring after the intensive phase of treatment. * Determine the impact of vinblastine in patients with late relapse of CD3-negative ALCL who have not received vinblastine during frontline therapy. Secondary * Determine overall survival and treatment-related mortality in patients treated with these regimens. * Determine acute and long-term toxicity in patients treated with these regimens. * Determine the rate of acute and chronic graft-vs-host disease in patients treated with allogeneic stem cell transplantation. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter, prospective, nonrandomized study. Patients are stratified according to time from initial diagnosis to progression/relapse, immunophenotype of lymphoma cells (CD3-positive + vs CD3-negative), stem cell donor availability (matched sibling donor vs 9/10 or 10/10 matched unrelated donor), and vinblastine during frontline therapy (yes vs no). * Group 1 (early progression): Patients receive 1 course of ICM chemotherapy followed by 1 course of ICI chemotherapy. * ICM chemotherapy: Patients receive methotrexate, cytarabine, and prednisolone intrathecally (IT) on day 1, mitoxantrone hydrochloride IV over 5 hours on days 1 and 2, carboplatin IV continuously on days 2-5 and ifosfamide IV continuously on days 2-6. * ICI chemotherapy: Patients receive methotrexate, cytarabine, and prednisolone intrathecally on day 1, idarubicin IV over 4 hours on days 1 and 2, carboplatin IV continuously on days 2-5, and ifosfamide IV continuously on days 2-6. Patients then proceed to allogeneic stem cell transplantation. * Group 2 (relapsed disease and CD3-positive lymphoma cells): Patients are stratified according to stem cell donor availability (yes vs no). * Available donor: Patients receive 2 courses of CC chemotherapy and then proceed to allogeneic stem cell transplantation. * Unavailable donor : Patients receive 2 courses of CC chemotherapy comprising dexamethasone orally or IV on days 1-5, vindesine IV on day 1, cytarabine IV over 3 hours on days 1 and 2, etoposide phosphate IV over 2 hours on days 3-5, and methotrexate, cytarabine, and prednisolone IT on day 5. Patients then receive 1 course of CVA chemotherapy comprising oral lomustine on day 1, vinblastine IV on days 1, 8, 15, and 22, and cytarabine IV over 1 hour on days 1-5. Patients undergo leukapheresis for collection of autologous peripheral blood stem cells after the first and/or second course of CC chemotherapy. Patients then proceed to autologous stem cell transplantation. * Group 3 (relapsed disease, CD3-negative immunophenotype, and received vinblastine during frontline therapy): Patients receive 2 courses of CC chemotherapy and 1 course of CVA chemotherapy as described above. Patients undergo leukapheresis for collection of autologous peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) after the first and/or second course of CC chemotherapy. Patients then proceed to autologous stem cell transplantation. * Group 4 (late relapse, CD3-negative immunophenotype, and did not receive vinblastine during frontline therapy): Patients receive vinblastine IV once weekly for 24 months. Patients with disease progression during or relapsed disease after vinblastine therapy undergo treatment as in group 3. * Autologous stem cell transplantation (SCT): Patients receive a conditioning regimen comprising carmustine IV over 1 hour on day -7, etoposide phosphate IV over 1 hour and cytarabine IV over 30 minutes on days -6 to -3, and melphalan IV over 15 minutes on day -2. Patients undergo autologous SCT on day 0. * Allogeneic SCT: Beginning 4-6 weeks after the start of the last chemotherapy course, patients receive 1 of the following conditioning regimens based on age: * Patients \> 2 years of age undergo total body irradiation on days -7 to -5 and receive thiotepa IV over 1 hour on day -4 and etoposide IV over 4 hours on day -3. Patients undergo allogeneic SCT on day 0. * Patients ≤ 2 years of age receive oral busulfan 4 times daily on days -8 to -5, thiotepa IV over 1 hour twice on day -4, and etoposide phosphate IV over 4 hours on day -3. Patients undergo allogeneic SCT on day 0. Patients undergoing SCT from an unrelated donor also receive antithymocyte globulin IV over 4 hours on days -3 to -1. All patients receive graft-versus-host (GVHD) prophylaxis as described below. * GVHD prophylaxis: GVHD prophylaxis is administered as per donor status. * Matched sibling donor: Patients receive cyclosporine IV over 2 hours or orally on day -1 to 60 followed by a taper. * 10/10 or 9/10 matched unrelated donor: Patients receive cyclosporine IV over 2 hours or orally on days -1 to 100 followed by a taper, methotrexate IV on days 1, 3, and 6, and leucovorin calcium IV on days 2, 4, and 7. * Mismatched donor: Patients do not receive GVHD prophylaxis, however, CD3-positive lymphocytes are extracted from donor stem cells. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed periodically for 10 years. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 96 patients will be accrued for this study.