BVAC ablative chemotherapy followed by autologous bone marrow
transplantation for patients with advanced lymphoma
RD Gingrich, GD Ginder, LJ Burns, BC Wen and MA Fyfe
Department of Internal Medicine, University of Iowa College of Medicine,
Iowa City.
Forty-one consecutive patients with lymphoma resistant to conventional
combination chemotherapy have been entered into a study in which chemo-
ablative therapy and autologous marrow rescue were used with curative
intent. The actuarial proportion of 20 patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma
remaining alive and free of recurrent disease is 49%, while that for 21
patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is 41%. Our clinical approach to these
patients involved a strategy whereby lymphomatous nodes greater than 2 cm
in diameter that persisted despite salvage chemotherapy were given boost
radiation therapy immediately before chemo-ablation. However, patients with
this variable had a significantly lower survival due to septic
complications rather than recurrent disease. We conclude that the treatment
strategy used in this study with some modification may improve further on
the already high probability of long-term disease-free survival experienced
by this group of patients.
Volume 75,
Issue 12,
pp. 2276-2281,
06/15/1990
Copyright © 1990 by The American Society of Hematology
