ChlVPP/PABlOE and radiotherapy in advanced Hodgkin's disease. The Central Lymphoma Group

The United Kingdom Central Lymphoma Group (CLG) has modified mechlorethamine, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone/doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine (MOPP/ABVD) by substituting mechlorethamine with chlorambucil and dacarbazine with etoposide in the treatment of patients with advanced Hodgkin's disease (HD). Prednisolone is included in the bleomycin-containing combination, and the vinca alkaloids have been switched to balance the myelotoxicity of the two component regimens.

The resulting ChlVPP/PABlOE regimen is as follows: on days 1 to 14, chlorambucil 6 mg/m2 orally, procarbazine 100 mg/m2 orally, and prednisolone 30 mg/m2 orally; on days 1 and 8, vinblastine 6 mg/m2 intravenously (i.v.); on day 29, doxorubicin 40 mg/m2 i.v.; on days 29 and 36, vincristine 1.4 mg/m2 (maximum, 2 mg) i.v., and bleomycin 10 mg/m2 i.v.; on days 30, 31, and 32, etoposide 200 mg/m2/d orally; on days 29 to 43, inclusive, prednisolone, 30 mg/m2 orally. The second full cycle restarts on day 50. Treatment continues to maximum response plus two full cycles, but with a minimum of three full cycles. Radiotherapy is administered, after chemotherapy, to sites of previously bulky disease. Since 1983, 216 patients with previously untreated, advanced Hodgkin's disease (HD) have entered this study.

The complete remission (CR) rate after chemotherapy was 73% (95% confidence interval [CI], 67% to 79%), and after additional radiotherapy was 85% (95% CI, 80% to 90%). The failure-free survival (FFS) rate at 5 years was 68% (95% CI, 61% to 74%), and the overall actuarial survival at 5 years was 78% (95% CI, 72% to 84%). The CR rate in patients in the poorer prognostic categories was high: 81% in patients with albumin levels less than 37 g/L, 79% in patients older than 40 years of age, 84% in stages IIIB plus i.v. disease, and 79% in patients presenting with B symptoms. As expected, nausea and vomiting were not major problems, although infection, often in the context of myelosuppression, complicated almost half the cases, and 29% of patients required admission at some stage for treatment of infection.

In this multicenter study, ChlVPP/PABlOE produced results comparable to those reported for MOPP/ABVD, but with less nausea and vomiting. Treatment duration was shorter than in the original MOPP/ABVD regimen, and than that used in the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) trial. It will now be compared with PABlOE alone.