No abstract

The incidence of malignant neoplasms in pregnant women is rising dramatically. The management of such cases poses unusual medical and ethical challenges, particularly in hematological malignancies, when potentially teratogenic chemotherapy is indicated. We report a case of stage IIA nodular sclerosis Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), diagnosed in a 24-year-old woman at 18 weeks of gestation. Individualized combination chemotherapy according to etoposide-vinblastine-doxorubicin (EVA) regimen was administered, resulting in effective local control of the disease and improvement in the patient's general condition. At the 36th week of pregnancy, the patient delivered a healthy female infant by elective cesarian section. Four weeks later, bleomycin-dacarbazine-doxorubicin-vinblastine (ABVD) chemotherapy was commenced, which provided complete remission after five cycles. Individualized chemotherapy for HL according to EVA regimen during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy, with early cesarian delivery, followed by ABVD regimen, provided a positive outcome both for the mother and her child. This strategy may be considered as an alternative for the treatment of HL in pregnancy, and deserves further clinical assessment.

Summary:We analysed the treatment outcome of primary refractory HD patients managed with high-dose chemotherapy and haematopoietic cell transplantation. Data of 65 adult patients who underwent HDC/ASCT in nine Polish centres for primary resistant Hodgkin's disease between June 1991 and July 2000 were collected retrospectively. Response rate to HDC/ASC: CR, 54%; PR, 20%; less than PR, 15%; early deaths, 11%. Actuarial 3-year OS and PFS were 55% and 36%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, lack of bulky lymph nodes and use of immunotherapy were favourable factors for both OS and PFS. IPF Ͻ3 at the time of transplantation was predictive for PFS. However, the prognostic impact of immunotherapy should be interpreted with caution since this group included more patients who achieved CR after HDC/ASCT. The results of HDC/ASCT are encouraging and confirm earlier findings. The role of immunotherapy should be further investigated in prospective trials.

ABVD remains a standard chemotherapy for Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL) despite many efforts to demonstrate the superiority of other regimens. Bleomycin was proven marginally active in this combination (J Clin Oncol 22:1532-3, 2004) but adding significant toxicity. Response to ABVD is often slow and relapse rate of 20-30% is a concern. ABVD has never been directly compared to CHOP, the other global standard for other lymphomas that is composed of agents certainly active in HL. Current study is an update on our initial report of 2004 (Blood 104, 2004). In addition to extending the follow-up, we compared outcome after CHOP in a pilot series of previously untreated patients with a retrospective results of ABVD therapy at our institution. CR/CRu rates were 88 and 62% for CHOP and ABVD, respectively. In CHOP CS III/IV group, more patients had at least three risk factors (80%) than in ABVD CS III-IV group (40%). In contrast to ABVD, there were no deaths in CHOP group, but EFS was inferior. This might result from a higher risk level in CHOP patients. Toxicity of both regimens was mild: grade 3/4 leukopenia in 9%, grade 1/2/3 peripheral neuropathy in 6% of ABVD patients, and grade 3/4 neutropenia in 7% of CHOP patients. In conclusion, CHOP-21 is an active and low-toxic regimen in HL with risk factors. A prospective comparison of CHOP with a standard chemotherapy in a randomized study will be justified.

Patients with recurrent or refractory Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are increasingly being treated with high-dose therapy and hematopoietic cell transplantation. As minimal disease status at the time of transplant has been a repeatedly proven significant prognostic factor for long-term survival, effective initial cytoreduction is an important step in the process. Modern chemotherapy programs for Hodgkin's lymphoma include virtually all active agents and little is left for effective salvage. Mitoxantrone is an active agent in lymphoma that is not generally used in first-line treatment. The aim of this study was to determine toxicity and response rate to CN3OP (fractionated mitoxantrone 6 mg/m2 on days 1, 2, and 3, combined with standard dose cyclophosphamide, vincristine, and prednisone) in 44 patients with relapsed or refractory lymphoma. Most of patients had advanced disease and one or more extranodal sites at relapse. Median response duration to immediate past therapy was four months, and one third of patients had not responded to prior treatment. A median of 4 cycles of CN3OP were given per patient for a total of 173 cycles. Grade III-IV neutropenia occured in 53% of cycles, Grade I-III mucositis in 24%, and Grade I-III infection in 17% of cycles. Of 34 evaluable patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma 12 (35%) achieved complete remission (CR) and 15 (44%) partial remission (PR) for an overall response rate of 79%. Two of five evaluable non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients responded with PR. Median overall survival and event free survival in the entire group was 29 months and 11 months respectively. At this time 16 patients have died; 12 of lymphoma, two of unknown cause and two of other causes. Complete response to CN3OP correlated with survival. CN3OP is an effective and safe regimen for cytoreduction in Hodgkin's lymphoma patients pretreated with doxorubicin/alkylator/etoposide-containing primary therapies.