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An alternating chemotherapy combination (macoble) for intermediate and high‐grade non‐hodgkin's lymphoma
Author(s) -
Harding M.,
McNulty L.,
Paul J.,
Lee F.,
Dunlop D.,
Soukop M.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
hematological oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.918
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1099-1069
pISSN - 0278-0232
DOI - 10.1002/hon.2900090205
Subject(s) - medicine , etoposide , chop , confidence interval , chemotherapy , surgery , bleomycin , lymphoma , population , gastroenterology , stage (stratigraphy) , methotrexate , environmental health , paleontology , biology
From June 1983 to February 1986, 48 patients with intermediate or high‐grade non‐Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) received a CHOP based combination with the addition of etoposide on days 1 and 2, bleomycin days 1 and 10 and methotrexate 1.5 g/m 2 on day 10 (MACOBLE). Their median age was 59 years, 20 (42 per cent) had an ECOG performance status (PS) of 2 or 3, 24 (50 per cent) had stage IV disease, 25 (52 per cent) B symptoms and 21 (44 per cent) bulk (> 10 cm) disease. With a median follow‐up of 62 months, 12 patients are alive, 10 of whom are disease‐free. Median overall survival was 13 months (95 per cent confidence interval 6–23 months) with actuarial 5‐year survival of 25 per cent (95 per cent confidence interval 13–37 per cent). Factors associated with inferior survival were ECOG PS 2 or 3 ( P = 0.004), B symptoms ( P = 0.013) and bulk disease ( P = 0.017). These data suggest that, when treating an unselected patient population, attempts to increase the intensity of first‐line chemotherapy may not improve the outcome.