title: Epic as an effective, low toxicity salvage therapy for patients with poor risk lymphoma prior to beam high dose chemotherapy and peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation.
abstract: We treated 33 patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) or Hodgkin's disease (HD) with a combination of etoposide, prednisolone, ifosfamide and carboplatin (EPIC). After a median of two courses (range 1-5) complete response was achieved in 7 (22%) patients and partial response in 12 (37%) patients, an overall response rate of 59%. The regimen was well tolerated with myelosuppression being the most common toxicity. There were no toxic deaths. 25 (78%) patients were able to proceed to high dose therapy (BEAM) with peripheral blood progenitor cell transplantation either immediately post EPIC or following further salvage therapy. Most patients mobilised peripheral blood progenitor cells well and 24 out of 25 patients subsequently undergoing autologous transplantation had rapid regeneration of counts. EPIC is an effective salvage therapy in the majority of patients with relapsed or refractory lymphoma and does not appear to be toxic to stem cells. Although severe, myelosuppression is of short duration and the generally low toxicity enables patients to proceed to successful peripheral blood stem cell harvest and transplantation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Haematology, St Bartholomew's Hospital School of Medicine and Dentistry, London, UK.
authors.forename: N C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: McBride
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Mills
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Eden
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Cavenagh
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lamont
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Newland
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Kelsey
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016190:Carboplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005047:Etoposide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005260:Female; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007069:Ifosfamide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000008:administration & dosage; D016879:Salvage Therapy; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D005047:Etoposide; D011239:Prednisolone; D016190:Carboplatin; D007069:Ifosfamide