[Low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: intensive combined chemotherapy]

The efficacy of various combination chemotherapies employed for the 37 patients with low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma between 1981 and 1994 was evaluated retrospectively. The overall survival at 5 years was 68%. The 5-year survival of the 27 patients achieving complete response (CR) was 87%, which was significantly higher than that of 9 patients with partial response (p = 0.0005). The CR rate of stage III and IV patients was 64% for the 22 patients treated with ACOMP-B (D), and was 38% for 8 others treated with milder chemotherapy regimens including VEPA. The 22 advanced stage patients had a 5-year survival of 88% after the treatment with ACOMP-B (D) and 69% of them remained free of disease at 5 years. In this group no relapse occurred beyond 1.6 years after treatment. These findings suggest a possible role of third generation chemotherapy in the treatment of patients with advanced-stage low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.