An alternating chemotherapy combination (macoble) for intermediate and high‐grade non‐hodgkin's lymphoma

摘要

AbstractFrom June 1983 to February 1986, 48 patients with intermediate or high‐grade non‐Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) received a CHOP based combination with the addition of etoposide on days 1 and 2, bleomycin days 1 and 10 and methotrexate 1.5 g/m2on day 10 (MACOBLE). Their median age was 59 years, 20 (42 per cent) had an ECOG performance status (PS) of 2 or 3, 24 (50 per cent) had stage IV disease, 25 (52 per cent) B symptoms and 21 (44 per cent) bulk (>10 cm) disease.With a median follow‐up of 62 months, 12 patients are alive, 10 of whom are disease‐free. Median overall survival was 13 months (95 per cent confidence interval 6–23 months) with actuarial 5‐year survival of 25 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval 13–37 per cent). Factors associated with inferior survival were ECOG PS 2 or 3 (P= 0.004), B symptoms (P= 0.013) and bulk disease (P= 0.017).These data suggest that, when treating an unselected patient population, attempts to increase the intensity of first‐line chemotherapy may not impr