Trofosfamide as a salvage treatment with low toxicity in malignant lymphoma. A phase II study

37 patients with disease progression after prior treatment for malignant lymphoma (27 low grade, 7 high grade and 3 Hodgkin's) were treated with oral trofosfamide daily. Most of these patients were heavily pretreated, with a median number of two regimens. Their median performance status was 1 (22 patients with 0-1 and 14 with 2-3). The overall response rate was 49% (18/37; 3/37 CRs and 15/37 (41%) PRs). Median time to progression (TTP) from start of therapy was 4 months for patients with low-grade lymphoma and 2 months for high-grade lymphoma. For responding patients (CR + PR), TTP was approximately 10 and 7 months, respectively, for the two groups of lymphomas. Median survival from the start of treatment was 11 months (range 1.3-46.6) for low-grade lymphoma and 3.8 months (range 2.2-17.6) for high-grade lymphoma. Haematological and other toxicities were low and did not cause any major treatment interruptions. Trofosfamide is an interesting and a non-toxic palliative treatment for relapsing malignant lymphomas especially in elderly patients.