Efficacy and toxicity of bendamustine in patients with relapsed low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphomas

Low-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) are very sensitive to a broad range of chemotherapeutic and biological agents. Relapses, however, occur even a fter aggressive cytostatic combinations in first-line therapy. Therefore, e ffective and well-tolerated salvage therapies are very important. In this s ingle-institution trial, the efficacy and toxicity of bendamustine in the t reatment of relapsed low-grade NHL was investigated. Fifty-eight patients w ith low-grade NHL pretreated with different cytostatic regimens were includ ed. All patients received bendamustine at 120 mg/m(2) as a 1-h infusion on 2 consecutive days. The treatment was repeated every 3 weeks until complete remission (CR), partial remission (PR) or stable disease (SD) was confirme d on two consecutive cycles. Efficacy and toxicity were evaluated in 52 pat ients: CR was induced in 11%, PR in 62% and SD in another 10% of the patien ts. No response to treatment was seen in 17%. The median duration of remiss ion was 16 months and the median survival time was 36 months. Side effects were generally mild, and restricted to myelosuppression, gastrointestinal t oxicity and allergic reactions. Bendamustine proved to be very effective an d was well tolerated in pretreated patients with relapsed or primary resist ant low-grade NHL. [(C) 2001 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.].