Single high-dose etoposide and melphalan with non-cryopreserved autologous marrow rescue as primary therapy for relapsed, refractory and poor-prognosis Hodgkin's disease.

A simplified schedule of high-dose chemotherapy (HDC) consisting of melphalan (140 mg m-2) plus VP16 (2.5 g m-2) given over 12-18 h together with autologous non-cryopreserved autologous bone marrow transplant (ABMT) was used for treatment of relapsed (37 patients) and refractory (seven patients) patients and as first-line treatment (four patients) for poor-prognosis Hodgkin's disease. Two patients had a second HDC-ABMT after relapse following prior HDC-ABMT, giving a total of 50 procedures among 48 patients. The haematological recovery rate was 98% with a complete response rate of the Hodgkin's disease of > 90%. Factors significantly influencing response rate were performance status and the presence of liver involvement. Thirty-nine patients are alive, with 37 in continuous complete remission. The median duration of survival and median duration of remission have not been reached at a median follow-up time of 45 months. Adverse prognostic factors for survival were disease status at the time of HDC-ABMT (refractory versus relapse, with primarily refractory patients showing significantly poor survival) and the presence of liver involvement. High-dose chemotherapy with short-duration chemotherapy and non-cryopreserved bone marrow is an effective and safe treatment modality for patients with relapsed and poor-prognosis Hodgkin's disease.