Treatment of primary progressive Hodgkin's and aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: is there a chance for cure?
OBJECTIVE
To determine differences in prognosis between primary progressive Hodgkin's disease (HD) and aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), we retrospectively analyzed patients with progressive lymphoma who were treated with different salvage chemotherapy regimens including high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT) followed by autologous stem-cell support (ASCT).


METHODS
One hundred thirty-one patients with primary progressive lymphoma (HD, n = 67; NHL, n = 64) were enrolled. Primary progressive disease was defined as disease progression during first-line chemotherapy or only transient response (complete or partial response lasting </= 90 days) after induction treatment. Patients 60 years or younger with progressive lymphoma were eligible to receive HDCT with ASCT.


RESULTS
The overall response rate after salvage chemotherapy for patients with primary progressive HD and NHL was 33% and 15%, respectively. Twenty-five HD patients (37%) received HDCT. Most patients with NHL had progressive disease under salvage treatment, with only six patients (10%) receiving HDCT. Of those, only two patients were alive and in continuous complete remission 3 and 12 months after HDCT. No patient with NHL survived longer than 26 months after first diagnosis. Actuarial OS after 5 years was 19% for all HD patients; 53% for HD patients receiving HDCT, and 0% for patients who did not receive HDCT. In HD patients, multivariate regression analysis identified chemosensitive disease on salvage treatment (P =.0001) and HDCT (P =.031) as significant prognostic factors for freedom from treatment failure. Significant prognostic factors for OS are chemosensitive disease (P =.0005), HDCT (P =.039), and B symptoms at the time of progress (P =.046).


CONCLUSIONS
There are striking differences in the prognosis of patients with progressive HD and aggressive NHL. The prognosis of progressive NHL patients is dismal. Most patients have rapidly progressive disease after salvage treatment and are, therefore, excluded from HDCT programs. In contrast, progressive HD patients can achieve long-term survival after HDCT.
Josting
A
A
First Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany. dr.andreas_josting@uni-koeln.de
Reiser
M
M
Rueffer
U
U
Salzberger
B
B
Diehl
V
V
Engert
A
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018450:Disease Progression; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005260:Female; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016879:Salvage Therapy; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous