High-dose cytarabine and mitoxantrone as salvage therapy for refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
BACKGROUND
High-dose cytarabine (ara-C) alone or in combination with mitoxantrone each has shown to be active in therapeutic trials of refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). In this study, we administered these two drugs to 14 patients with advanced and refractory NHL.


METHODS
Ara-C was administered at a dosage of 3 gm/sqm for 2-hour intravenous infusion every 12 hours from day 1 to day 4 (8 doses), and mitoxantrone was given at a dosage of 6 mg/sqm/day for 1-hour intravenous infusion from day 1 to day 5. The clinical efficacy and toxicity were assessed by WH0 criteria.


RESULTS
Four patients (28%) attained complete remission (CR) and 2 had partial remission (PR). Of the 4 CR patients, the remission lasted 5 months in one patient and 4 months in another. The remaining 2 patients had CR of only 1.3 months. Myelosup-pression with subsequent infection was the major toxicity of this regimen. Severe neutropenia (<1,000/uL) lasted for an average of 20 days, and thrombocytopenia (<50,000/uL) 24 days. Nonmyeloid toxicities included 100% alopecia, 93% stomatitis, 43% hepatotoxicity, 36% dermatitis, 28% CNS toxicity and 7% chemical conjunctivitis.


CONCLUSIONS
A proportion of refractory NHL patients will respond to high-dose ara-C + mitoxantrone, despite that severe myelosuppression is frequently encountered.
Wang
W S
WS
Department of Medicine, Veterans General Hospital-Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
Tzeng
C H
CH
Chiou
T J
TJ
Liu
J H
JH
Fan
S
S
Chen
P M
PM
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003561:Cytarabine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008942:Mitoxantrone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D012074:Remission Induction; D016879:Salvage Therapy
D003561:Cytarabine; D008942:Mitoxantrone