Long-Term Follow-Up of Tandem High-Dose Therapy with Autologous Stem Cell Support for Adults with High-Risk Age-Adjusted International Prognostic Index Aggressive non-Hodgkin Lymphomas: A GOELAMS Pilot Study

Single high-dose therapy (HDT) followed by autologous peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) support improves complete response and overall survival (OS) in untreated aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL). However, patients with a high age-adjusted international prognostic index (aa-IPI equal to 3) still have poor clinical outcome despite high dose intensity regimen. To improve complete response in this subgroup, the French Groupe Ouest-Est des Leucémies et Autres Maladies du Sang (GOELAMS) conducted a pilot phase II trial (073) evaluating tandem HDT with PBSC support in a series of 45 patients with aa-IPI equal to 3 untreated aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After induction with an anthracyclin-containing regimen, responders underwent tandem HDT conditioned by high-dose mitoxantrone plus cytarabine for the first HDT and total-body irradiation (TBI), carmustine, etoposide, and cyclophosphamide for the second HDT. Thirty-one patients out of 41 evaluable patients completed the program. There were 4 toxic deaths. The complete response rate was 49%. With a median follow-up of 114 months for surviving patients, the OS was 51%, and 19 out of the 22 patients (86%) who reached a complete response are alive and relapse-free. Recent prospective evaluation of quality of life and comorbidities of surviving patients does not reveal long-term toxicities of the procedure. In the era of monoclonal antibodies and response-adapted therapy, the role of tandem HDT still need to be determined.