[The efficacy of VAD chemotherapy for refractory lymphoid malignancies]

Thirty patients with refractory lymphoid malignancies [multiple myeloma (MM): 8, plasma cell leukemia (PCL): 2, acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL): 5, chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast crisis: 1, chronic lymphocytic leukemia in blast crisis: 1, adult T-cell leukemia: 1, non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL): 9, Hodgkin's disease (HD): 3] were treated with VAD regimen (vincristine, doxorubicin, dexamethasone). Of 28 evaluable patients, 4 patients achieved complete response or remission [MM1, ALL1, NHL1, HD1], 10 attained partial response or remission [MM5, PCL1, NHL3, HD1], and 2 patients with MM attained minor response. The remission duration ranged from 1 month to over 14 months. The response rate was high in patients with MM (75%) and lymphoma (60%), however 4 patients with T-cell malignancies achieved no response except one with NHL. In three patients who showed resistance to VAD, diltiazem was administered in addition to VAD and one patient with MM had response. Atrio-ventricular block was also observed in one patient during the period of diltiazem administration. Nine patients developed documented infections, 5 of which suffered from candida infections. From these observations, we concluded that VAD regimen might be useful as a salvage therapy especially in patients with MM and lymphoma.