Combined chemotherapy plus radiotherapy for treatment of early-stage intermediate- and high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Treatment of localized (stages I, IE, non-bulky II and IIE) aggressive histologies of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma has evolved over the past 20 years. Prior to 1980, these diseases were shown to be locally controlled with radiotherapy, but systemic relapse and death were common. With the discovery of potentially curative doxorubicin- containing chemotherapy, pilot studies during the 1980s demonstrated the utility of combination chemotherapy as initial therapy by increasing the proportion of cured patients. In the 1990s, two large randomized, prospective trials set the benchmark for future comparisons by establishing initial chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy (combined modality therapy) as the best available current treatment strategy.