Gemcitabine and treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma in relapsed or refractory elderly patients: a prospective...

Support for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) with large cells that is refractory or relapsed after first-line chemotherapy poses a greater therapeutic problem with bone marrow transplant therapy or when old age is a contra-indication for high-dose chemotherapy, especially among developing countries such as Algeria.

To show that the regimen, including gemcitabine, could be more effective in treating elderly patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in relapse / refractory, without complete remission, when compared with the ESHAP (etoposide, cisplatine, solumedrol, aracytine) regimen.

Ninety-six patients in the age group of 60-70 years were volunteers for a prospective randomized single-blind study, carried out for three years. Patients were divided into two groups by the drawing of lots. The first group (GA, n = 48, relapse; n = 27 [56.3%], refractory; n = 21 [43.7%]) received treatment with ESHAP protocol and the second one (GB, n = 48, relapse; n = 28 [58%], refractory; n = 20 [42%]) with GPD (gemcitabine, dexamethasone, cisplatine) protocol.

The overall response rates and mean survival at three years were significantly higher among patients subjected to GPD treatment compared with those subjected to ESHAP treatment (63% vs. 55%, P = 0.01 and 20.5% [95% CI 16.5-24.5] vs. 11.8% [8.9-14.6], respectively). Additionally, three-year progression-free and event-free survival rates were 20.5% (16.3-24) and 19.7% (15.9-23.5), respectively, for the GPD regimen and 10.9% (8.2-13.7) and 11.1% (95% CI 8.5-13.7), respectively, for the ESHAP regimen. Moreover, the GPD regimen was associated with improving overall survival (RR=2.02, 95% CI 1.59-2.56; P = 0.000), event-free survival (2.03, 1.64-2.52; P < 0.001) and progression-free survival (1.86, 1.46-2.37; P < 0.001).

In cases of contra-indication for high-dose chemotherapy for elderly patients with DLBCL, without complete remission, the Gemcitabine-based therapy protocol represents a more effective and less toxic than that of ESHAP.