Korean J Intern Med.  2006 Sep;21(3):159-164. 10.3904/kjim.2006.21.3.159.

ESHAP Salvage Therapy for Refractory and Relapsed Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma: A Single Center Experience

• Park SH
• Kim S
• Ko OB
• Koo JE
• Lee D
• Jeong YP
• Huh J
• Kim SB
• Kim SW
• Lee JL
• Suh C

• KMID: 759841
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3904/kjim.2006.21.3.159

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The ESHAP chemotherapy regimen, that is, the combination of the etoposide, methylprednisolone, high-dose cytarabine and cisplatin, has been shown to be active against relapsing or refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in previous therapeutic trials. We attempted to determine whether ESHAP therapy would be effective and well-tolerated in Korean patients. METHODS: Twenty two patients with refractory or relapsed NHLs (all aggressive types) were enrolled in this study. We retrospectively evaluated the treatment response, the survival rate and the time to progression. RESULTS: Six patients (27.3%) attained complete remission and eight patients (36.4%) attained partial remission. The overall response rate was 63.6%. The median survival duration was 15.5 months (95% confidence interval; 10.7 to 20.3 months), and the median duration of the time to progression was 8.3 months (95% confidence interval; 0.3 to 16.3 months). Myelosuppression was the major toxicity, but severe neutropenia or thrombocytopenia was rare, and renal toxicity was also infrequent. CONCLUSIONS: ESHAP regimen is effective in Korean patients suffering with relapsed or refractory NHLs, but a more effective salvage modality is needed because of the short duration of remission and the insignificant impact on long-term survival.

Keyword

Lymphoma; Non-Hodgkin; Salvage therapy; ESHAP regimen

MeSH Terms

Treatment Failure
Survival Analysis
*Salvage Therapy
Prednisone
Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/*drug therapy/mortality
Middle Aged
Methylprednisolone/administration & dosage
Male
Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin/*drug therapy/mortality/pathology
Humans
Female
Etoposide/administration & dosage
Disease Progression
Cytarabine/administration & dosage
Cisplatin/administration & dosage
*Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols
Antineoplastic Agents/administration & dosage
Aged
Adult
Adolescent