BEAM with BCNU is commonly used for conditioning treatment followed by autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). However, pulmonary toxicity and availability issues associated with BCNU prompted us to evaluate bendamustine-replacing BCNU (BeEAM). We analyzed 39 lymphoma patients receiving BeEAM conditioning with 200 mg/m bendamustine at days -7 and -6. The median duration until neutrophil recovery was 11 days, and 15 days for platelet recovery (>20 g/L). The most common grade 3/4 non-hematologic toxicities comprised mucosal side effects (27 pts.). Pulmonary toxicity was observed in one patient (2.5%), and one patient died of septic complications. The CR rate increased from 33% to 74% 100 days after ASCT. After a median follow-up of 18.5 months, progression and death each occurred in 11 patients (28%). Median progression-free and overall survival at 2 years were 69% and 72%. Our data suggest that BeEAM conditioning using bendamustine is safe and results in promising survival rates.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.