Sequential combination chemotherapy (CABOPP/VIM) for the treatment of high-grade malignant non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

In 42 patients with high-grade malignant non-Hodgkin lymphomas, a new treatment program was used in an attempt to improve results without increasing toxicity. Two effective but relatively well tolerated and non-cross resistant drug combinations were given sequentially according to the response of disease. Therapy was started with a combination consisting of cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, bleomycin, vincristine, procarbazine and prednisone (CABOPP). In patients with complete remission after a maximum of 4 cycles of CABOPP, this regimen was continued for a total of 6 cycles. In patients with progressive disease or with only a partial remission after 4 cycles of CABOPP, therapy was switched to a combination consisting of etoposide, ifosfamide and methotrexate (VIM). Complete remission (CR) was achieved in 86% of patients. Sixty-nine percent achieved CR with CA-BOPP alone and 17% after changing to VIM. The CR rate was 100% in patients with stage I or II and 78% in those with stage III or IV of disease. The projected survival at 2 years is 66%. Fifty-six percent of patients with CR are predicted to have continued CR at 2 years. Thus, CABOPP/VIM appears to be an effective and well tolerated program for the treatment of aggressive lymphomas. The value of this program, however, can only be established comparing it with other newly developed protocols in randomized studies.

[Therapy of primary resistant or recurrent small cell bronchial carcinoma with vindesine and ifosfamide]. / Therapie des primär resistenten oder rezidivierenden kleinzelligen Bronchialkarzinoms mit Vindesin und Ifosfamid.

A combination of vindesine (3 mg/m2, day 1) and ifosfamide (60 mg/kg, days 1-5 + Mesna) was administered every three weeks to 11 patients with primary resistant and 23 with recurrent small-cell bronchial carcinoma. All patients had been pre-treated with chemotherapy, 16 in addition with radiotherapy. At the onset of the vindesine-ifosfamide treatment the cancer was in a localized regional stage in ten patients, while in 24 it was in a more widely spread stage. In 29 patients whose treatment results could be evaluated the remission rate was 38%, with two complete and nine partial remissions. In a further eight patients the cancer was arrested. The patients with complete remission (for 46 and 53 weeks, respectively), those with partial remission (median of 39 weeks) and those with stationary disease (median of 31 weeks) survived significantly longer than those with progressing disease (13 weeks). There was no correlation between treatment result and pre-treatment. On recurrence after complete remission or in the localized regional stage the remission rate was 70% and 60%, respectively, and the survival time was extended in 90% of cases. In addition to nausea, alopecia and myelosuppression, side-effects included vomiting, reversible CNS symptoms, polyneuropathy and urotoxicity. On the basis of acceptable toxicity, combined vindesine and ifosfamide constitute an effective treatment of otherwise treatment-refractory cases of small-cell bronchial carcinoma.

[Sequentially alternating chemotherapy of non-seminomatous testicular tumors with adriamycin/cisplatin and bleomycin/vinblastine. Therapeutic success and failure with respect to histology and tumor stages]. / Sequentiell-alternierende Chemotherapie nicht-seminomatöser Hoden-tumoren mit Adriamycin/Cisplatin und Bleomycin/Vinblastin. Therapieansprechen und -versagen in Abhängigkeit von Histologie und Tumorstadium.

The value of sequential alternating chemotherapy was analyzed retrospectively in 180 patients with disseminated, non-seminomatous testicular cancer. Response rates of adriamycin/cisplatin--(combination A) and bleomycin/vinblastine (combination B)--combination chemotherapy were evaluated separately with respect to tumor histology and tumor stages. Tumor response was achieved in 151 of 180 patients (84%) who were evaluable for adriamycin/cisplatin chemotherapy. Out of those, 91 of 117 patients (78%) pretreated with combination B and 60 of 63 patients (95%) without prior chemotherapy responded. Irrespective of pretreatment tumor response was observed in 131 of 157 patients (84%) evaluable for treatment with bleomycin/vinblastine. Resistance to combination A was 2.5 fold higher in embryonal carcinomas (class II of Dixon and Moore) than in choriocarcinomas (class V). Bleomycin/vinblastine-therapy failed more frequently in choriocarcinomas as compared to other histological categories (22% vs. 14%). This report also includes an analysis of treatment failures in different tumor stages. Both regimens were more frequently ineffective in tumor stages with a large tumor burden (stages II C and IV D). Patterns of cross-resistance were evaluated for both regimens. Response to adriamycin/cisplatin occurred in 18/26 patients (69%), when combination B had failed, and response to bleomycin/vinblastine was achieved in 14/24 patients (58%) when adriamycin/cisplatin had failed. In patients not responding to either regimen the treatment failure was already recognized after the first chemotherapeutic course in 93% of these cases.