LDVP Regimen Following Radiotherapy Effective for Stage III/IV T-Cell Lymphoma

the Cancer Therapy Advisor take:

Extranodal natural killer/ T cell lymphoma (ENKL) is a rare, but aggressive type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma that is known to have a poor response and survival rate.

Although radiotherapy is known to be highly effective in the treatment of ENKL, there is no standard chemotherapeutic regimen for the treatment of advanced-stage ENKL. Investigators hypothesized that patients who complete a full course of chemotherapy can reduce the size of the cancer, and following it with radiotherapy, may prove to be effective in controlling ENKL.

The investigators conducted a study to determine the safety and efficacy of a chemotherapy regimen of L-asparaginase, etoposide, dexamethasone, and cisplatin (LVDP), followed by regional radiotherapy, for the treatment of newly diagnosed patients with stage III/IV ENKL.

The efficacy was determined by observing the overall response rate (ORR), overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) at 1 or 2 years.

A total of 18 patients were in the study, and all patients received an average of 4.04 cycles of chemotherapy. The study results revealed that the ORR was 50%, and at the 1-year follow-up, the OS and PFS rates were 72.2% and 50.0%, respectively, and at the 2-year follow-up, the OS and PFS rates were 33.3% and 22.2%, respectively; the median OS was 23.0 months and PFS was 10.5 months. In terms of safety endpoints, the most common adverse event was bone marrow suppression.

The authors concluded that LVDP regimen in combination with radiotherapy was effective in the treatment for late ENKL and improved survival; however, larger, prospective studies should be conducted to validate the efficacy of the regimen in patients with advanced-stage ENKL.