R-ICE versus R-ESHAP for salvage therapy in aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

e18509 Background: Standard therapy for aggressive Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) consists of R-CHOP (rituximab, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, prednisone), however the 5 year relapse rate is 20%. Patients with relapsed/refractory (RR) NHL are offered autologous stem cell transplantation (SCT) after salvage chemotherapy demonstrates chemosensitivity and reduces tumor burden. No standard salvage regimen for RR-NHL exists. Frequently used regimens include R-ICE (rituximab, ifosfamide, carboplatin, etoposide) and R-ESHAP (rituximab, etoposide, methylprednisolone, cytarabine, cisplatin). Which regimen provides the greatest efficacy with least toxicity remains unclear. Methods: Patients diagnosed with RR aggressive NHL who received R-ICE or R-ESHAP between 1/1/2000 and 9/30/2011 were identified. Patients may have received either regimen after failure of initial therapy. The primary objective was to determine the overall response rate (ORR) for each regimen. Secondary objectives included determinatio...