EVALUATION OF CYTOSINE-ARABINOSIDE, CARBOPLATIN AND ETOPOSIDE CHEMOTHERAPY IN THE TREATMENT OF RELAPSING AND REFRACTORY NON-HODGKINS-LYMPHOMA

Twenty-eight patients (14 with relapsing and 14 with refractory non-Ho dgkin's lymphoma; NHL) were treated with a combination of CACE chemoth erapy (cytosine arabinoside, carboplatin, and etoposide) and recombina nt granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) to investigate the ef ficacy and adverse effects of this regimen. Twenty-eight NHL. patients (16 men and 12 women, median age 52 years) received intravenous infus ions of cytosine ara; binoside (100 mg/m(2)) on days 1-7, carboplatin (250 mg/m(2)) on day 1, and etoposide (70 mg/m(2)) on days 1-3, as wel l as the subcutaneous administration of G-CSF (2 mu g/kg) beginning on day 9. Eleven of 28 (39.3%) patients achieved complete remission (CR) and 10 patients (35.7%) partial remission (PR). Therefore, a total re sponse rate of 75% was achieved. Nine patients with relapsing disease and 2 with refractory NHL achieved CR, Of the 28 patients 51.5% were a live at 3 years, while the 3-year survival rate for those who achieved CR was 87.5%. The 50% disease-free survival duration was 20.8 months, Adverse effects included leukopenia (2 x 10(9)/l) in 4 patients (14.2 %) and thrombocytopenia (50 x 10(9)/l) in 18 patients (64.3%). Althoug h the efficacy of the CAGE regimen was-demonstrated for treatment of r elapsing NHL, the efficacy of CAGE was not satisfactory for the treatm ent of refractory NHL. Further study is required to determine the valu e of the CAGE regimen as therapy for the refractory NHL.