Low Grade Non-Hodgkin's Lymphomas: Disease Control with Mitoxanthrone Monotherapy in Patients Refractory to Conventional Therapy

Salvage treatment modalities for refractory low grade non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (LGNHL) are limited. In the present analysis we investigate the effectiveness of mitoxanthrone monotherapy in resistant LGNHL. Fourteen patients from our Unit were studied. Eligibility criteria were as follows: histologic type of LGNHL, performance status 0, 1 or 2, clinical stage II, III or IV, A or B and refractoriness to conventional chemotherapy. The treatment protocol provided intravenous infusion of mitoxanthrone 6 mg/m2 daily for 3 days every three to four weeks. The median number of treatment cycles until now was 4 (1-8). A minimum of 3 cycles was necessary for documentation of response. For the staging and response of our patients well known criteria were used. The term minor response (MR) was introduced for those patients who had less than 50% disease regression. Of the 14 patients one could not be evaluated. Among the remaining 13, one achieved complete remission (CR) (7.7%), six partial remissions (PR) (46.2%), three...