Autologous Bone Marrow Transplantation - Blog Science Connections

596 BEAM: Cytoreductiue Regimen for Lymphomas
BEAM Day 1
BCNU (carmustine)
300 mg/m 2
Etoposide
200 mg/m 2 /day
Aracytine (cytarabine)
200 mg/m 2 /day
Melphalan
140 mg/m 2
ABMT infusion
Table 2. BEAM Protocol
Abbreviation: ABMT, autologous bone marrow transplantation.
Table 3. BEAM Response Rate of Patients With
Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) and Hodgkin's Disease (HD)
Patients' Status No. of Patients CCR CR PR NR PD NE
NHL Patients
Resistant relapse 7 2 1 2 1 1
and PD 2 2
Sensitive relapse
in PR 8 5 3
in CR 11 11
first PR 5 5
first CR 12 11 1
HD Patients
in RR 2 1 1
in SR 5 4 1
Abbreviations: BEAM, BCNU (carmustine), etoposide, aracytine (cytarabine),
melphalan; CCR, continuous complete remission; CR, complete response; PR, partial
response: NR, no response; PD, progressive disease; NE, not évaluable; RR, resistant
relapse; SR, sensitive relapse.
achieved CR or even PR. Among the group of 10 NHL patients sensitive to
conventional chemotherapy, or after relapse, or in PR, all achieved a CR.
Among Hodgkin's disease patients, the response rate was high, with five of
seven CR and only one disease progression.
Toxicity
Reduction of toxicity was a major objective in this study. The result may
be summarized as follows (Table 4):
Immediate tolerance was very good, with only grade 1 nausea and
vomiting after carmustine and high-dose melphalan, and with good tolerance
of etoposide and cytarabine.