One hundred and thirty one patients with non-Hodgkin's
lymphomas (107
lymphomas and 24
histiocytic lymphomas) have been treated between January 1973 and January 1976, by an association of
cyclophosphamide,
vincristine and
prednisone alone (CVP) or combined with
adriamycin (CVP-A). All
lymphomas stage I and II received CVP +
radiotherapy: the actuarial analysis shows a stationary survival from 1 to 5 years at 89%. In the group of lymphoid
lymphomas stage III and IV with nodular pattern, the survival is longer for patients who received CVP (69% at five years) than for patients treated with CVP-A (54% at three years). In the group of lymphoid
lymphomas stage III and IV with diffuse pattern, the complete remission rate is 25% for the CVP and 67% for the CVP-A (p less than 0.01). However, the median duration of life is not different for the two groups (24 and 26 months respectively). In the group of
histiocytic lymphomas, the complete remission rate in 50% for the CVP combination and 83% for the CPV-A. However, the median time of life which is 17 months for the CVP, is not reached for the CVP-A (Stationary survival at 90% from the 12th to the 36th months). These results show that the CVP combination is a good treatment for the lymphoïd
lymphoma with nodular pattern. The addition of
adriamycin gives hope of long remissions and perhaps cure for
histiocytic lymphomas, until now of bad prognosis. For the lymphoid
lymphoma with diffuse pattern, the prognosis is still bad although we obtained with
adriamycin a better rate of complete remission. The high dose
chemotherapy rescued by autologous
bone marrow transplantation may be a new possibility for this last type of non Hodgkin
lymphomas.