[Treatment effect of DICE regimen on patients with relapsed or refractory intermediate and high grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma].

Background & Objective: So far, there is still no standard salvage regimen for relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). The response rates (RR) of NHL patients received common salvage regimens, such as DICE, ESHAP, MINE, and EPOCH, are only 30%-70%. This study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of DICE regimen, as a salvage regimen, in treating patients with relapsed or refractory intermediate and high grade NHL.

Methods: Thirty-five patients with relapsed or refractory intermediate and high grade NHL, who had been pretreated with chemotherapy dominated by CHOP or CHOP-like regimen with a median of 6 cycles (ranged 2-12 cycles), were salvaged by DICE regimen from Jun. 1999 to Jan. 2004. Of the 35 patients, 14 were T-cell original, and 21 were B-cell original.

Results: The 35 patients received DICE regimen with a median of 4 cycles (ranged 2-7 cycles). All patients were assessable in the efficacy and adverse events. The total RR was 74.3% with complete response (CR) rate of 31.4%, median response time (MST) of 4 months (ranged 1-30 months), median time to failure (TTF) of 7 months (ranged 2-34 months),median survival time (MST) of 14 months (ranged 3-51 months), and 2-year survival rate of 33.3%. The RRs of T-cell and B-cell NHL were 85.7% and 66.7%. The CR rate was higher in T-cells NHL than in B-cell NHL (50.0% vs. 19.0%, P=0.073). Elevated serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and bulky disease were high risk factors of the efficacy of DICE regimen (P < 0.05). The response to DICE reginmen was an independent prognostic factor of patients with relapsed or refractory NHL (P = 0.001). The major toxicity was myelosuppression. Incidences of neutropenia and thrombocytopenia of grade III-IV were 71.4% and 8.6%.

Conclusions: DICE regimen is a safe and effective salvage regimen for the patients with relapsed or refractory intermediate and high grade advanced NHL. Elevated serum LDH and bulky disease are the adverse prognostic factors. The response to DICE regimen may directly influence survival time of patients with relapsed or refractory NHL.