MACOP-B AND VACOP-B IN DIFFUSE LARGE CELL LYMPHOMAS AND MOPP ABV IN HODGKINS-DISEASE

Between 1981 and 1986, 126 patients with diffuse large cell lymphoma were treated with MACOP-B (methotrexate/doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide/vincristine/prednisone/bleomycin). All had advanced-stage lymphoma (Ann Arbor stage III or IV or stage I or II if the tumor mass was greater than 10 cm or B symptoms were present). The complete response (CR) rate was 84% and the toxic death rate was 6%. Actuarial overall survival at 3 years was 67% and at 8 years 62%; the failure-free survival at 8 years was 52%. The follow-up for MACOP-B is 39 to 106 months (median 76) for living patients. A multivariate prognostic factor analysis for this group of patients identified age greater than 60 years, B symptoms, more than one extranodal site of disease, and more than three nodal sites of disease as the four significant prognostic variables. From June 1986, 108 patients were enrolled on a modification of MACOP-B called VACOP-B (etoposide/doxorubicin/cyclophosphamide/vincristine/prednisone/bleomycin). Their CR rate was 81%, and the toxic death rate was lower, at 3%. The 60% overall survival at 3 years is not statistically significantly different from that of MACOP-B. The incidence of moderate or severe mucositis and Cushingoid changes was much lower with VACOP-B. The MOPP/ABV (mechlorethamine/vincristine/prednisone-doxorubicin/bleomycin/vinblastine) hybrid chemotherapy regimen for advanced-stage Hodgkin's disease was standard therapy from April 1981 to June 1988 for untreated patients aged 16 to 65. Advanced stage was defined as stages IIB, IIIB, III2A, IVA, IVB, or stages IIA or IIIA with greater than four splenic nodules or a mediastinal mass greater than one third of the transthoracic diameter. The projected 7-year overall survival for 170 patients was 77%, and the failure-free survival was 62%. We found that MOPP/ABV was a successful regimen for advanced Hodgkin's disease, irrespective of stage or presence of B symptoms or a bulky mediastinal mass.