Treatment outcome with a second generation combination chemotherapeutic regimen m-BACOD and with a standard regimen chop for advanced diffuse nonhodgkin's lymphoma in elderly patients

Abstract

Seventy newly diagnosed elderly patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with diffuse large cell lymphoma patients in stage II to stage IV were treated with two different chemotherapeutic regimens to compare the outcome of treatment. Forty patients were treated with CHOP regimen (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisolone) in the standard doses with twenty one days interval for eight such cycles. Remaining thirty patients were treated with m-BACOD (bleomycin, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, dexamethasone, methotrexate with folinic acid rescue) in standard doses with twenty one days interval for eight such cycles. Patients of CHOP treated group showed better response than that of m-BACOD treated group. The patients treated with CHOP (n=40) showed the complete response in 20 (50%), partial response in 7 (17.5%), stable disease in 4 (10%), death during treatment 5 (12.5%), death within three years after completion of treatment 18 (45%) patients andoveral survival after three years of treatment was 17 (42.5). On the other hand patients treated with m-BACOD (n=30) showed the complete response in 14 ( 46.7%), partial response in 5 (16.7%), stable disease in 2 (6.7%), progressive disease in 3 (10%), death during treatment in 6 (20%), death within three years after completion of treatment in 17 (56.6%) patients and overall survival after two years of treatment was 7 (23.3%), Complete response and overall survival after three years of treatment was higher in the patients treated with CHOP group than the m-BACOD group. The study also showed the toxicities of m-BACOD was much more than CHOP regimen.