Dexa-BEAM in patients with Hodgkin's disease refractory to multidrug chemotherapy regimens: a trial of the German Hodgkin's Disease Study Group.

PURPOSEA prospective phase II study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of dexamethasone, carmustine, etoposide, cytarabine, and melphalan (Dexa-BEAM) as salvage chemotherapy for patients with Hodgkin's disease.PATIENTS AND METHODSFifty-five patients progressing on or relapsing after eight- or 10-drug chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone plus doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine [COPP+ABVD] or COPP+ABV+ifosfamide, methotrexate, etoposide, and prednisone [IMEP]) were treated with Dexa-BEAM. Patients who responded after two cycles of Dexa-BEAM either continued treatment for another two to three cycles or received high-dose chemotherapy/autologous bone marrow transplantation (HDCT/ABMT) with cyclophosphamide, etoposide, and carmustine (BCNU) (CVB) as conditioning regimen.RESULTSSeventeen patients (31%) achieved a complete remission and 16 (29%) a partial remission, resulting in a response rate of 60% (95% confidence interval, 46% to 73%). Progressive di...