Radiotherapy after high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous bone marrow transplantation in patients with intermediate or high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Patients with intermediate or high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are rarely cured of their disease after the failure of conventional therapy. Autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT) offers such patients a new possibility of cure. Our purpose was to evaluate the usefulness of radiotherapy. In these patients who did not achieve complete remission of disease after high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) followed by ABMT or who had previous bulky disease. In this study we examined 10 patients: after HDCT+ABMT, 9 patients had persistent disease and 1 patient with previous bulky disease was in complete remission. All patients underwent involved-field radiotherapy administered by a 6-18 MV linear accelerator, total mean dose 4000 cGy (range, 3200-5000 cGy). At the end of radiotherapy we observed 6 complete responses and 4 progressions of disease outside the radiotherapy field. No serious side effects were observed. To date, of the 6 complete responses 2 have relapsed (after 9 and 11 months) and 4 are alive and disease free at 24 months (range, 8-39 months) after radiotherapy. In our opinion, radiotherapy is an effective treatment after HDCT+ABMT and may have a role in a prospective multidisciplinary approach.
Istituto Nazionale per la Ricerca sul Cancro, Genova, Italy.
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S
Barra
A
A
Bacigalupo
R
R
Corvò
M
M
Guenzi
T
T
Scolaro
V
V
Vitale
D000328:Adult; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation; D017024:Chemotherapy, Adjuvant; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents