title: Idarubicin and high dose cytarabine: a new salvage treatment for refractory or relapsing non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
abstract: Twenty three patients with relapsing (n = 11) or refractory (n = 12) non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) to one or two prior anthracycline based combination chemotherapy regimens were treated as second or third line regimen with 3 induction cycles of Idarubicin (IDA) (7 mg/m2/d i.v. d1-d3) and high dose cytarabine (HD Ara-C) (1 g/m2/12 h i.v. d1-d3), each cycle was repeated every 3 weeks. Responding patients received a maintenance therapy with monthly cycles of IDA: 15 mg/m2 d1-d3, Etoposide 100 mg/m2 d1-d3, both by oral route. Twenty two patients are evaluable and we observed 13 CR and 1 PR with an overall response rate of 61% (14/23: 95% Cl = 38.5% 80.3%). The median time to progression was 32 months (6.5 - 63 + m.). The response rate to IDA-HD Ara C was not different for patients with (n = 14) or without (n = 9) objective response to the last prior therapy. The main toxicity was hematological: all patients experienced grade 4 neutropenia and 22 patients had grade 4 thrombopenia, but there were no toxic deaths. IDA and HD-Ara-C combination is highly effective in refractory or relapsed. NHL. As hematological toxicity was the limiting factor for further escalation of dose-intensity, further studies might include hematopoietic growth factors support in the therapeutic scheme.
authors.affiliation: Département Onco-Hématologie, Hôpitaux, Universitaires de Strasbourg, France.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dufour
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mors
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Berthaud
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lamy
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Bergerat
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Herbrecht
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Maloisel
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Audhuy
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lioure
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giron
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hurteloup
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Oberling
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003561:Cytarabine / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015255:Idarubicin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D016879:Salvage Therapy
chemical_list: D003561:Cytarabine; D015255:Idarubicin