title: Long-term survival of patients with resistant lymphoma treated with tandem stem cell transplant.
abstract: Dose-intensive chemotherapy with autologous stem cell support is commonly used in resistant/refractory cases of Hodgkin's disease (HD) and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of tandem transplantation in these patients. We used non cross-resistant conditioning regimens with thiotepa, mitoxantrone and carboplatin (TMJ) followed by ifosphamide, carboplatin and etoposide (ICE) with autologous stem cell rescue in an attempt to maximize dose intensity and achieve long-term remission. Seventy-six patients were included in this study. Twenty-nine patients with HD and 47 with NHL underwent autologous stem cell transplant using TMJ as the conditioning regimen for the first transplant. Of these, 49 patients proceeded to the second transplant using ICE as the conditioning regimen. In 57 patients, only peripheral blood cells were used and in 11 patients both bone marrow and peripheral stem cells were used. Twelve patients died due to treatment-related toxicity. On an intent to treat basis, 32.14% of patients with HD refractory to initial or subsequent therapy survived long term as opposed to 12.76% of patients with NHL. With a median follow-up of 83 months (range 25 - 110 months), the median disease-free survival of patients with HD was 7 months, as opposed to 2 months for patients with NHL. Multivariate analysis identified that patients with HD had a superior outcome if they were less than 35 years of age and did not have B symptoms. Dose-intensive chemotherapy with tandem transplantation is an option in patients with resistant/refractory lymphoma who have very limited treatment options and poor prognosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology/Oncology, New York Medical College and Zalmen A. Arlin Cancer Institute, Valhalla, NY, USA. HDTRANS@aol.com
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rashid
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Waheed
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kancherla
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Qureshi
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hoang
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Richter
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goldberg
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Seiter
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012008:Recurrence; D012074:Remission Induction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016879:Salvage Therapy / Q000379:methods; D016019:Survival Analysis; D015996:Survival Rate