[Rituximab combined with second line regimens for treatment of seven relapsed and refractory Hodgkin lymphoma patients].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy and safety of Rituximab combined with second line regimen for treatment of relapsed and refractory Hodgkin lymphoma.

METHODS: Seven patients with relapsed and refractory Hodgkin lymphoma were treated with Rituximab combined with second line regimen. Among them, two patients were treated with R-GDP (E) [rituximab, gemcitabine, cisplatin, dexamethasone (etoposide)] regimen, another two patients with R-IGVP (rituximab, ifosfamide, gemcitabine, vinorelbine, prednisone)regimen, and the left three patients with R-BEACOPP (rituximab, bleomycin, etoposide, doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, prednisone)regimen. The efficacy and safety were evaluated during and after chemotherapy.

RESULTS: There're three male and four female patients, whose median age was 21 years (range 12-36 years) old. One patient was diagnosed as nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (NLPHL), and the other six patients as classical HL (four nodular sclerosis HL, one lymphocyte-rich classical HL and one hmixed cellularity HL). The median cycles of salvage therapy were 4(1-4), and the median follow-up was 29 months (24-58 months). Among these 7 patients, the complete remission was observed in 4 patients, stable disease in 2 patients, but one patient died during salvage therapy. The two-year survival rates were 85.7% and the major toxic effects were bone marrow suppression.

CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the Rituximab combined with second line regimen is an effective therapy for relapsed and refractory Hodgkin lymphoma.