CLINICAL COURSE AND OUTCOME OF PATIENTS WITH HODGKINS-DISEASE WHO PROGRESS AFTER AUTOLOGOUS TRANSPLANTATION

Twenty-six of fifty-eight patients undergoing autologous bone marrow t ransplantation (autoBMT) or peripheral stem cell transplantation (PSCT ) for Hodgkin's disease had progression of lymphoma (Hodgkin's or non- Hodgkin's) during the course of their follow-up. The majority of progr essions, 81% (21/26), occurred within the first year of transplant; 12 % (3/26) occurred at three years or more. Three patients developed a n on-Hodgkin's lymphoma; all B-cell tumors primarily involving the gastr ointestinal tract. The majority of patients (23/26) received at least one therapy after progression and 65% (17/26) of patients received mul tiple therapies. One patient who received a second BMT is alive withou t evidence of disease at 49 months following the second autologous BMT . The median survival for the entire group is 11 months. Forty-six per cent (12/26) of patients survived more than one year and twenty-three percent (6/26) survived more than two years after disease progression. Post-progression survival is significantly related to time to progres sion.