A BRITISH-NATIONAL-LYMPHOMA-INVESTIGATION RANDOMIZED TRIAL OF SINGLE-AGENT CHLORAMBUCIL PLUS RADIOTHERAPY VERSUS RADIOTHERAPY ALONE IN LOW-GRADE, LOCALIZED NON-HODGKINS-LYMPHOMA

Local radiotherapy (RT) alone was compared with radiotherapy plus cont inuous oral chlorambucil (RT + CHL) for the treatment of localised, lo w grade non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL) in a prospective randomised study of 148 patients. After a maximum of 18 years follow up there was no si gnificant difference in overall survival or disease free survival betw een the two treatment groups. Age greater than 50 years and low serum albumin at diagnosis correlated with a poor prognosis in the series ov erall. Over one third of patients with localised, low grade NHL may be cured by RT alone and adjuvant chlorambucil as initial therapy confer s no survival advantage.