Treatment of early clinically staged Hodgkin's disease with a combination of ABVD chemotherapy plus limited field radiotherapy.

The current management of early stage Hodgkin's disease (HD) is usually based on clinical staging, combined modality therapy and the use of less toxic chemotherapy regimens. This approach entails high cure rates, while ensures less long term toxicity with avoidance of laparotomy. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of a brief course of Adriamycin, Bleomycin, Vinblastine, Dacarbazine (ABVD) chemotherapy followed by limited field radiotherapy (RT) in favorable clinical stage (CS) I and IIA HD. Forty patients, aged 17-68 (median 34) years, with favorable CS I and IIA HD, without bulky mediastinal disease, have been treated with 4-6 (median 4) cycles of ABVD plus limited field RT. Twenty seven (67%) patients received 4 cycles of chemotherapy, while 13 received 5-6 cycles. Thirty five (87%) patients received limited field RT with dose 24-36 Gy and five (13%) received extended field with 36-46 Gy. All patients responded completely to chemotherapy. One patient experienced a relapse two months after the end of therapy. All patients are alive; 39 in continuous complete remission. With a median follow-up period of 44 months (range 18-101) the actuarial overall and progress free survival was 100 and 97% at 5 years. We did not observe any case of secondary leukemia or solid tumor. Pulmonary toxicity was mild in cases of mediastinal irradiation. Considering the short follow-up time and the small number of patients, the combination of a brief course of ABVD plus regional RT is a very efficacious treatment of favorable CS I and IIA HD with mild toxicity. However, long term survival data are needed, which could give confident answers regarding the risk of late therapy related complications, particularly second malignancies.

Survival and prognostic factors after initiation of treatment in Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia.

BACKGROUND: Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia (WM) is an unusual lymphoplasmacytoid lymphoma characterized by the presence of a serum monoclonal immunoglobulin M. Although several studies have evaluated possible prognostic factors of this disease, few have focused on the survival and prognosis of symptomatic patients after the initiation of treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Our study included 122 previously untreated patients with a median age of 67 years who required systemic treatment. Multiple variables were analyzed for their prognostic value on survival after initiation of treatment using univariate and Cox regression multivariate analysis. RESULTS: The median overall survival was 106 months. Pretreatment factors associated with shorter survival were age >/=65 years, splenomegaly, B-symptoms (weight loss, fever or night sweats), hemoglobin <10 g/dl, platelets <100 x 10(6)/dl, albumin <3.5 g/dl and bone marrow lymphoplasmacytic infiltrate >/=50%. In the multivariate analysis, the two variables with independent prognostic value were age >/=65 years and hemoglobin <10 g/dl. Furthermore, we were able to divide our patients into three risk groups based on the presence of two, one or none of these two adverse prognostic factors. The median survival times in the high-, intermediate- and low-risk groups were 46 months, 107 months and 172 months, respectively (P <0.0001). DISCUSSION: Our findings suggest that advanced age and anemia appear to be the two dominant prognostic factors for survival after initiation of treatment in patients with WM. These two readily available parameters can stratify the patients into three distinct subgroups and may help the selection of appropriate treatment.

The management of chronic lymphocytic leukemia at a single centre over a 24-year period: prognostic factors for survival.

Over a 24-year period, 137 patients were referred for management of newly diagnosed chronic lymphocytic leukemia. One hundred and nineteen patients have been reviewed in terms of response to therapy and prognostic factors for survival; 18 patients were excluded either because lymph node biopsy was not compatible with the diagnosis of CLL (11 patients), or because the lymphocyte count at presentation was < 5 x 10(9)/l (seven patients). Patients were staged retrospectively according to both the Rai and Binet Classifications. Forty-eight per cent (57/119) were deemed not to be in need of any treatment at presentation, 36 per cent (43/119) have never received any specific therapy. The majority of patients received chlorambucil alone, at a dose of 10 mg daily given for 6 weeks, followed by a 2-week interval, followed by three, 2-week cycles. The overall response rate (complete+partial remission) was 38 per cent. In terms of survival, there was a trend in favour of patients who responded to treatment in comparison with those who did not but this did not reach statistical significance (P = 0.07). Correlations with stage were highly significant, the median survivals for patients with stage A, B and C disease (Binet) were 12.5, 8 and 3.5 years respectively. On univariate analysis, the absolute lymphocyte count at presentation was the most significant prognostic factor for survival, patients presenting with an absolute lymphocyte count above 50 x 10(9)/l having a less favourable prognosis (P = 0.002). However, on multivariate analysis, older age, a low hemoglobin, low platelet count, and the presence of lymphadenopathy and fever at presentation correlated adversely with survival. Overall, 40 patients died as a consequence of CLL or from disease-related causes, 34/40 dying of infection. Twenty-one patients developed second cancers. With a median follow-up of 13 years, these results confirm that the two staging systems can separate patients into prognostic groups, however in practice, there is heterogeneity of outcome within stage. New approaches are urgently needed.

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia.

Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia is the commonest of the leukaemias and occurs most often in the elderly. The identification of presenting features that correlate adversely or favourably with survival has allowed the rational development of new treatment strategies.