Combination chemotherapy of refractory lymphoma with cis-dichlorodiamineplatinum, vinblastine, and bleomycin

Therapy of advanced lymphomas after failure of chemotherapy with cytoxan and adriamycin containing combinations remains poor. We have treated 17 patients with refractory lymphomas of various histologies with an intensive regimen of cisplatin, vinblastine and bleomycin. These were three complete clinical responses (6, 10+, 8 months, respectively) and five partial responses (2.5, 3, 4, 7, 18 months, respectively) for a total of 8/17 responders. Four of the eight responders had bone or bone marrow involvement. In addition, three patients had dramatic shrinkage of measureable lesions, but the duration (less than 1 month) was too short to allow classification as a response. Toxicity included severe myelosuppression requiring that patients be hospitalized to the majority of cases, mild to moderate rise in serum creatinine levels in 41% of patients and one case of fatal pulmonary fibrosis. This regimen may be useful in patients with refractory or relapsing lymphoma; alternatively, it may be useful as part of an initial treatment protocol utilizing non-cross-resistant regimens for the management of patients with poor prognosis lymphomas.