Background: Treatment of intermediate and high grade non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) includes chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy, depending on the clinical stage. The standard treatment for advanced NHL is 8 cycles of combined chemotherapy, cyclophosphamide, adriamycin, vincristine and prednisone (CHOP). Patients presenting with localized disease are treated with fewer chemotherapy cycles and involved field radiotherapy, with good results.
Aim: To evaluate the treatment results including overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) in localized aggressive NHL patients treated at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Clinical Hospital.
Patients and methods: Retrospective analysis of all patients with Ann Arbor stages I and II referred to the hematology and radiotherapy clinic between 1998 and 2003. OS and EFS analysis was made according to the Kaplan and Meier method. Log-rank and Cox methods were used for univariate and multivariate analyses, respectively. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy toxicities were scored according to World Health Organization (WHO) and Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) scales, respectively.
Results: 39 patients (20 men), aged between 20 to 85 years, were the source for this study. The average follow-up was 51 months (range 6-115). The 5 years OS and EFS were 72,4% and 63,3%, respectively. On univariate analysis, age over 60 was the only variable that affected negatively OS and EFS. Acute toxicity caused by chemotherapy and radiotherapy was uncommon.
Conclusions: Age over 60 was the only independent variable associated with poor prognosis. The number of chemotherapy cycles and the drug combination did not influence the results. These results support the usefulness of a shortened chemotherapy regimen plus involved field radiotherapy.