High-intermediate (HI)- and high (H)-risk non-Hodgkin lymphoma was treated with front-line intensive chemotherapy followed by autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (auto-PBSCT). Twenty-eight cases were enrolled after obtaining informed consent, from November, 1998 to October, 2003. Initial treatment was 2 or 3 cycles of CHOP-V regimen, followed by three high-dose therapy, one each of cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and etoposide. The final high-dose therapy was a combination of ranimustine, ifosphamide and etoposide, which was followed by auto-PBSCT. Patients with a bulky mass received involved-field radiation therapy (IF-RT) after auto-PBSCT. Complete remission (CR) was achieved in 16 cases (57%) and partial remission (PR) in 9 cases (32%), after auto-PBSCT The final responses after IF-RT were CR in 20 cases (71%) and PR in 5 cases (18%). Overall survival of cases with 2 cycles of CHOP-V regimen was 56% after a median observation time of 30 months, compared with 82% in cases with 3 cycles (p = 0.0732). The results suggested that the reduction of tumor size with the initial CHOP-V treatment was most important. In all cases, progression-free survival was 64% and the overall survival was 74% after a median observation time of 30 months, which showed a good outcome compared with that of HI- and H-risk group defined by the age-adjusted international prognostic index reported by Shipp et al.