Background: A brief course of chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy was considered the best treatment for localized high-grade Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL). The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy and feasibility of a brief-course of anthracycline-based chemotherapy (CHOP) and consolidation radiation therapy (CRT) in a series of 57 consecutive patients with stage I-IE intermediate-high grade NHL.
Patients and methods: Between January 1990 and December 1998, 57 consecutive patients, stage I=31 (55%) and stage IE=26 (45%), were treated with 3 cycles of CHOP regimen. Forty-four (77%) received a CRT and thirteen (23%) with primitive gastric and splenic NHL underwent radical surgery. Multivariate analysis was performed to evaluate age, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), bulky, nodal versus extranodal localization, as prognostic factors of locoregional control and survival.
Results: After a median follow-up of 84 months (range 4-128 months) the 5-year overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS) and event-free survival (EFS) rates were 88%, 87.5% and 84%, respectively. Risk factor analysis revealed that the LDH value was the most important adverse prognostic factor for OS and EFS. No differences were found regarding the age and or extranodal localization. The 5-year OS, DFS and EFS was 100% in thirteen patients with primitive gastric or splenic NHL treated with a radical surgical approach followed by chemotherapy without CRT.
Conclusion: We confirm the efficacy and feasibility of a brief course of CHOP chemotherapy followed by CRT in localized I-IE intermediate-high grade NHL without adverse prognostic factors. Randomized studies are warranted in order to define the dose and the target volume of CRT (involved field or extended field) in this setting of patients.