Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation - Blog Science Connections

Treatment Strategies for Advanced Aggressive
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma
R. Schots, P. Biron, C. Bailly, F Mornex, and T. Philip
Before 1965, diffuse histiocytic lymphoma as defined by Rappaport (1 ) was a
rapidly fatal disease. Only patients with stage 1 disease treated with radiotherapy
had prolonged survival (2). During the 1970s, a significant proportion of
patients with advanced diffuse histiocytic lymphoma could be cured by
combination chemotherapy (3,4). CHOP (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin,
vincristine, prednisone) (5-11) probably remains the most commonly used
drug regimen for this type of lymphoma. During the past decade, further
progress has been achieved. Several more intensive chemotherapy regimens
have produced better response rates and improved long-term survival rates
(12-16). High-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous bone marrow
transplantation (ABMT) has been performed in patients with non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma in various conditions and at different stages of disease, and results
have been reviewed (17). With regard to these new possibilities, we attempted to
identify different treatment strategies for patients with diffuse, advanced non-
Hodgkin's lymphoma. For this purpose, results from a single center (Centre
Leon Berard in Lyons, France) were compared with those found in the literature.
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