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Jak inhibitors are potent anti-inflammatory drugs that have the potential to dampen the hyperactive inflammatory response associated with severe COVID-19. We reviewed the clinical outcomes of 218 patients with COVID-19 hospitalized for severe pneumonia and treated with ruxolitinib through a compassionate use program. Data on the duration of treatment, outcomes at 4, 7, 14, and 28 days, oxygen support requirements, clinical status, and laboratory parameters were retrospectively collected. Overall, according to the physician evaluation, 66.5% of patients showed improvement at follow-up, of these, 83.5% showed improvement by day 7. Oxygen support status also showed improvement, and by day 7, 21.6% of patients were on ambient air, compared with 1.4% at baseline, which increased to 48.2% by day 28. Significant decreases in C-reactive protein and increases in the lymphocyte total count were already observed by day 4, which seemed to correlate with a positive outcome. At the end of the observation period, 87.2% of patients were alive. No unexpected safety findings were observed, and grade 3/4 adverse events were reported in 6.9% of patients.

Achievement of deep molecular response following treatment with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) allows for treatment-free remission (TFR) in many patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Successful TFR is defined as the achievement of a sustained molecular response after cessation of ongoing TKI therapy. The phase 3 ENESTPath study was designed to determine the required optimal duration of consolidation treatment with the second-generation TKI, nilotinib 300 mg twice-daily, to remain in successful TFR without relapse after entering TFR for 12 months. The purpose of this Italian ‘patient’s voice CML’ substudy was to evaluate patients’ psycho-emotional characteristics and quality of life through their experiences of stopping treatment with nilotinib and entering TFR. The purpose of the present contribution is to early present the study protocol of an ongoing study to the scientific community, in order to describe the study rationale and to extensively present the study methodology. Patients aged ≥18 years with a confirmed diagnosis of Philadelphia chromosome positive BCR-ABL1+ CML in chronic phase and treated with front-line imatinib for a minimum of 24 months from the enrollment were eligible. Patients consenting to participate the substudy will have quality of life questionnaires and in-depth qualitative interviews conducted. The substudy will include both qualitative and quantitative design aspects to evaluate the psychological outcomes as assessed via patients’ emotional experience during and after stopping nilotinib therapy. Randomization is hypothesized to be a timepoint of higher psychological alert or distress when compared to consolidation and additionally any improvement in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) due to nilotinib treatment is expected across the timepoints (from consolidation, to randomization, and TFR). An association is also expected between dysfunctional coping strategies, such as detachments and certain personality traits, and psychological distress and HRQoL impairments. Better HRQoL outcomes are expected in TFR compared to the end of consolidation. This substudy is designed for in-depth assessment of all potential psycho-emotional variables and aims to determine the need for personalized patient care and counselling, and also guide clinicians to consider the psychological well-being of patients who are considering treatment termination.NCT number: NCT01743989, EudraCT number: 2012-005124-15

Despite widespread use of decitabine to treat acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), data on its effectiveness and safety in the real-world setting are scanty. Thus, to analyze the performance of decitabine in clinical practice, we pooled together patient-level data of three multicentric observational studies conducted since 2013 throughout Italy, including 306 elderly AML patients (median age 75 years), unfit for intensive chemotherapy, treated with first-line decitabine therapy at the registered schedule of 20 mg/m2 /iv daily for 5 days every 4 weeks. Overall response rate (ORR), overall survival (OS) curves, and multivariate hazard ratios (HRs) of all-cause mortality were computed. Overall, 1940 cycles of therapy were administered (median, 5 cycles/patient). A total of 148 subjects were responders and, therefore, ORR was 48.4%. Seventy-one patients (23.2%) had complete remission, 32 (10.5%) had partial remission, and 45 (14.7%) had haematologic improvement. Median OS was 11.6 months for patients with favourable-intermediate cytogenetic risk and 7.9 months for those with adverse cytogenetic risk. Median relapse-free survival after CR was 10.9 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 8.7-16.0). In multivariate analysis, mortality was higher in patients with adverse cytogenetic risk (HR=1.58; 95% CI: 1.13-2.21) and increased continuously with white blood cell (WBC) count (HR=1.12; 95% CI: 1.06-1.18). A total of 183 infectious adverse events occurred in 136 patients mainly (>90%) within the first five cycles of therapy. This pooled analysis of clinical care studies confirmed, outside of clinical trials, the effectiveness of decitabine as first-line therapy for AML in elderly patients unfit for intensive chemotherapy. An adverse cytogenetic profile and a higher WBC count at diagnosis were, in this real life setting, unfavourable predictors of survival.

Background: The Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is causing millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide. Cumulative clinical and laboratory evidence suggest that a subset of patients with severe COVID-19 may develop a cytokine storm syndrome during the course of the disease, with severe respiratory impairment requiring ventilatory support. One field of research nowadays is to identify and treat viral-induced hyperinflammation with drugs used in other clinical conditions characterized by an hyperinflammation status. These drugs might help to reduce COVID19 mortality.Methods: Ruxolitinib, a JAK1 and JAK2 inhibitor, has been successfully used to treat severe immune-mediated diseases, such as graft vs. host disease and Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. We used ruxolitinib in 18 patients with clinically progressive COVID-19 related acute respiratory distress syndrome, with a primary endpoint to rapidly reduce the degree of respiratory impairment and as a secondary endpoint to rapidly restore the PaO2/FiO2 ratio, as an evaluation of clinical status, and monitoring of drug related Adverse Events. Parameters of inflammation responses and organ functions were assessed and monitored. The treatment plan was ruxolitinib 20 mg bid for the first 48 h and subsequent two-step de-escalation at 10 mg bid and 5 mg bid for a maximum of 14 days of treatment.Results: Our data collection shows a rapid clinical response with no evolution from non-invasive ventilation to mechanical ventilation in 16/18 patients and no response in two patients (overall response rate—ORR 89%). Already after 48 h of ruxolitinib treatment 16/18 patients showed evident clinical improvement, and after 7 days of treatment 11/18 patients showed fully recovered respiratory function (pO2 > 98% in spontaneous breathing), 4/18 patients had minimal oxygen requirement (2–4 L/m), 1/18 patient showed stable disease, and 2/18 patient showed progressive disease. After 14 days, 16/18 patients showed complete recovery of respiratory function (ORR 89%). Compliance to ruxolitinib planned treatment was 100% and no serious adverse event was recorded. In our case series of 18 critically ill patients with COVID-19 and ARDS, administration of ruxolitinib resulted in a clinical improvement that concurred to modify the standard course of disease. Ruxolitinib can be a therapeutic option for patients with respiratory insufficiency in COVID-19 related ARDS. RESPIRE Study (Ruxolitinib for the treatment of acute rESPIratory distREss syndrome, ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04361903).

In March 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) a global pandemic [1]. Common symptoms, including fever, fatigue and dry ...

BACKGROUND: In the last years genomic and somatic alterations have shown to play a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and new prognostic factors have been identified accordingly.AIM: To describe a real-life diagnostic and therapeutic approach to CLL that takes into account the role of genomic and somatic prognostic factors in the risk stratification of developing progressive disease, and treatment decision.METHODS: This new proposal has been developed and validated by ten key opinion leaders from Tuscany Region during two Expert Meetings. The approach suggested comes from their experience in daily clinical practice and is supported by guidelines recommendations, clinical trials results, and drugs prescribing conditions in Italy.RESULTS: Beside TP53 deletion or mutated status, the Expert Panel highlighted the importance of the IGHV mutation status characterization, since the diagnosis, in order to identify patients who will have a more aggressive progression. Furthermore, just before starting treatment, to obtain useful prognostic information and indication in the selection of the therapy, they recommend cytogenetic analysis for the detection of del(11q), trisomy 12, del(13q), del(17p), conventional karyotyping of stimulated CLL cells, TP53 sequencing, and molecular genetic analysis to detect IGHV mutation status.CONCLUSIONS: The Expert Panel recognized the limitations associated with traditional staging systems in identifying patients who will have a more aggressive disease course and predicting response to treatment and suggested a real-life diagnostic and therapeutic approach to CLL to update the current patient management in light of recent advances that have improved understanding of CLL.

Background: The main objective of this study is to gain further insights on how chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients involved in an interventional clinical trial with the purpose of reaching treatment free remission (TFR) phase, perceived and experienced TFR failure. TFR failure was defined for the individual patient as either not being eligible for drug discontinuation or as having relapse in the TFR phase with reintroduction of nilotinib treatment. Methods: Using a qualitative approach, out of 25 patients with CML who experienced TFR failure 14 were interviewed. Patients’ views and experiences were explored using in-depth interviews, analyzed using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Results: The analysis of the interviews revealed that the experience of the diagnosis seems to have been lived as a traumatic break that has created a dichotomy, like an ambivalence in the ways in which CML patients perceived and experienced the whole disease journey, with contradictory feelings of both positive and negative emotions (e.g., a diagnosis of cancer, that is something distressing and of being afraid of, but also with a treatment and a life expectancies of which being grateful). This ambivalence of feelings was found to give meaning to the way in which patients cognitively and emotionally experienced the different steps of their disease history. Thus, four main issues, corresponding to different steps of the patients’ journey, were identified: (1) the moment of the diagnosis, (2) the experience of the illness journey: disease and treatment, (3) the moment of “TFR failure,” and (4) the impact of disease, treatment and relapse on the patient’s life. Conclusion: This qualitative analysis helps in understanding patients’ perspective, both in terms of getting access to the inner subjective experience of having CML and its strict relationship with the involvement in a trial or its cessation. Clinicians should consider that the way in which CML patients feel engaged in a clinical trial, create expectancies about TFR or experience the TFR failure is linked to the process of coping with the diagnosis, which is characterized by ambivalence.

The main objective of this study is to gain a deeper understanding of how patients suffering from chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cope with their illness. The study aims to reconstruct the subjective meaning-making process related to CML in order to gain insights into the impact the disease has on patients’ emotions and everyday lives, as well as to explore the psychological impact of their being presented with the chance to suspend their therapy and recover from the disease. Data were gathered from a qualitative study conducted in Italy on 158 Italian CML patients. Basing the study on the narrative inquiry approach, the patients were required to describe their patient journey in a qualitative narrative diary. These contained prompts to elicit the free expression of their needs, expectations, and priorities. A lexicographic analysis was carried out with T-LAB software and in particular a thematic analysis of elementary contexts (TAECs) and a word association analysis (WAA). The TAEC detected four thematic clusters related to two factors (temporal frame and contextual setting) that explained the variance among the narratives. The WAA evidenced a wide variety of emotions, both positive and negative, as patients reacted to the possibility of interrupting their therapy. A better understanding of patients’ experiences can offer insights into promoting the development of more sustainable healthcare services and into therapeutic innovation aimed at improving patients’ quality of life and at engaging them more in their treatment. The findings of this study can also help make medical professionals more aware of the patient’s burden and help them identify potential interactions and emotional levers to improve clinical relationships.

Background: Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) drastically changed the outcome of patients diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). Several reports indicated the advantage of continue long-term adherence associated with positive outcome. Therefore, it is important to better understand from the patient’s standpoint the experience of living with the disease and the related treatment. Objectives: In this study, quantitative analysis and narrative medicine were combined to get insights on this issue in a population of 257 patients with CML in chronic phase treated with TKIs (43 % men, with a median age of 58 years, 27 % aged 31–50 years), followed for a median time of 5 years. Sixty-one percent of patients enrolled were treated in first line, whereas 37 % were treated in second line. Results: The results showed more positive perceptions and acceptance in males compared to females, without impact of disease on relationships. Level of positive acceptance was more evident in elderly compared to younger patients, with a close connection with median time from diagnosis. Overall, female patients reported negative perceptions and an impact of disease on family daily living. The majority of patients understood the importance of continue adherence to treatment, with 27 % resulting less adherent (60 % for forgetfulness), even if well informed and supported by his/her physician. Discussion and conclusions: Narrative medicine, in association to quantitative analysis, can help physicians to understand needs of their patients in order to improve communication.

This case describes a 42-year-old male affected by hypereosinophilic syndrome associated with angioimmunoblastic lymphoma. Heart involvement was suspected at ECG mimicking left ventricular hypertrophy. MRI clarified the extensive endomyocardial fibrosis, confirming the role of this technique in in-vivo tissue characterization. Finally, the study investigates the association of T cell lymphoma, hypereosinophilic syndrome, and Loeffler endomyocardial disease.

Bendamustine was introduced in Italy from 2008 and it was used as salvage therapy in patients pretreated, particularly in indolent lymphomas. Before approval as first-line treatment by the National Health System, starting from 2011 and thanks to our regional regulation, was possible to use Bendamustine in first line therapy as ‘off-label’ drug. The aim of this study was to collect all consecutive patients treated in first line with Bendamustine in 7 Tuscany centers. From June 2011 to December 2012, 72 patients were prospectively included in the study. Diagnosis was: Lymphocytic lymphoma in 25 patients (34%), Follicular lymphoma in 18 (25%), Diffuse large B cell lymphoma in 11 (15%), Mantle cell lymphoma in 10 (14%), Lymphoplasmocytic lymphoma in 5 (7%) and MALT in 3 (5%). Thirty-nine patients were treated with Bendamustine 90 mg/m2 for two days, 28 with 70 mg/m2 and 5 with 120 mg/m2. The analyzed population must be considered negatively selected as such was not proposed the standard therapy. Moreover the data coming from literature and the experience in pre-treated patients increased the interest of clinicians for this drug. In 14 patients Bendamustine was used alone, in 56 in combination with Rituximab or other drug. The overall median age was 69 years (range 45-89), in DLBCL was 81 years and 78 years in MCL. Considering the advanced age of this population we applied the geriatric score assessment and 25% of patients were unfit or frail. The median number of cycles performed was 4 (range 2 - 6). All patients but 2 were evaluable for response, 35 obtained a complete remission, 27 a partial remission considering the intention to treat the overall response rate was 86%, stable disease in 2 patients, progressive disease in 6 patients and not evaluable in 2 patients. According to histotype to note that all but two indolent lymphoma obtained a response; in aggressive lymphomas 4/11 DLBCL and 5/9 MCL reached a complete remission but 4 DLBCL and 2 MCL experienced rapid progression of the disease. Treatment was well tolerated, we observed: grade 3-4 neutropenia in 18 patients, no grade 3-4 anemia or thrombocytopenia. According to extrahematological toxicity was reported only grade 3-4 infection in 3 patients no other grade 3-4 toxicities were reported. Skin rush grade 1 was reported in in 5 patients. No toxic deaths were observed. After a median follow-up of 18 months the overall survival was 83%; 10 patients died all due to progressive disease. Progression free survival, after a median observation period of 12 months, was 60%; sixty-two patients are alive, 31 in continuous complete remission, 3 relapsed and 28 with disease under control. In conclusion in this ‘real life’ negatively selected population, the use of Bendamustine showed a very high response rate particularly in indolent lymphomas, promising results, also, are observed in aggressive lymphoma suggesting that this drug can be used with interesting result in elderly patients who can not receive the standard therapy. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Background Rituximab in combination with chemotherapy is the standard of care for patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and follicular lymphoma (FL). To improve patient convenience and to reduce healthcare resource burden, a subcutaneous (SC) formulation of rituximab has been developed and has been shown to be clinically comparable to intravenous (IV) rituximab. The aim of this study was to evaluate patient preference for rituximab IV or SC administration. Methods Prefmab (NCT01724021) is a randomized, open-label, crossover phase IIIb study. Eligible patients were aged ≥18 to ≤80 years with previously untreated CD20+ DLBCL (IPI 1-4 or 0 with bulky disease) or FL (FLIPI grade 1-3a), at least 1 bidimensionally measureable lesion ≥1.5cm at its largest dimension by computed tomography, and an ECOG performance status ≤3; all provided written informed consent. Patients received 8 cycles of rituximab according to 2 schedules: Arm A received 1 cycle of rituximab IV (375mg/m2) and 3 cycles of rituximab SC (1400mg) then 4 cycles of rituximab IV; Arm B received 4 cycles of rituximab IV (375mg/m2) then 4 cycles of rituximab SC (1400mg). Alongside rituximab, both arms received 6-8 cycles of chemotherapy (CHOP [cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, oncovin, prednisone], CVP [cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisone], or bendamustine as per standard local practice). A Patient Preference Questionnaire (PPQ) was conducted post-rituximab therapy at cycles 6 and 8. The primary endpoint was overall preference for rituximab IV or SC. The strength of patient preference was also assessed (very strong, fairly strong, or not very strong). Adverse events (AEs), including administration-related reactions, were evaluated according to NCI-CTCAE version 4.0. Results At the primary data cut-off (January 19, 2015), the intent-to-treat population comprised 743 patients (Arm A: n=372; Arm B: n=371). The majority of patients had DLBCL (63%). The median age was 60 years (range 18-80) and baseline characteristics were balanced between arms. One hundred and twenty patients discontinued immunochemotherapy treatment prematurely, primarily due to AEs (n=52), but entered follow-up. A further 108 patients (Arm A: n=48; Arm B: n=60) discontinued the study and did not complete follow-up, primarily due to death (53 patients [DLBCL: n=48; FL: n=5], 19 of whom died due to progressive disease [DLBCL: n=16; FL: n=3]), patient request/withdrawal of consent (n=23), or AEs (n=9). Rates of study discontinuation and treatment discontinuation were balanced between arms. The PPQ was completed by 620 patients at cycle 6 and 591 at cycle 8. At cycle 6, rituximab SC was preferred by 80% (n=495) of patients (Arm A: 79%; Arm B: 81%) and rituximab IV by 10% (n=62; Arm A: 11%; Arm B: 9%), while 10% (n=63) had no preference (Arm A: 10%; Arm B: 10%). At cycle 8, the respective values were 81% (n=477; Arm A: 77%; Arm B: 84%), 11% (n=66; Arm A: 13%; Arm B: 10%), and 8% (n=48; Arm A: 10%; Arm B: 6%). The strength of patient preference for rituximab SC or IV is shown in Figure 1. Of patients who preferred rituximab SC, the main reasons were 'less time in the clinic' (cycle 6: 68%; cycle 8: 69%) and 'feels more comfortable during administration' (cycle 6: 37%; cycle 8: 37%). The mean cumulative rituximab administration time (mean ± standard deviation) was 865 ± 401 min for rituximab IV compared with 37 ± 100 min for rituximab SC. AEs were generally balanced between rituximab IV and SC administration, with the exception of gastrointestinal disorders (IV: 55%; SC: 31%) in patients with FL, notably nausea (IV: 28%; SC: 11%), constipation (IV: 14%; SC: 6%), and vomiting (IV 12%; SC 2%). No new safety signals were detected. Conclusions Most previously untreated patients with CD20+ DLBCL or FL preferred SC compared with IV administration of rituximab, mainly due to reduction in the duration and discomfort of administration. Figure 1. Figure 1. Disclosures Rummel: Roche: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding. Plenteda:Roche: Other: Sub-investigator. Mendoza:Roche: Employment. Smith:Roche: Employment. Osborne:Roche: Employment. Grigg:Merck: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Gilead: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Roche: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; BMS: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Amgen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.

Between July 1990 and March 1992, 23 elderly patients with intermediate or high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) received a combination chemotherapy (P-VABEC: Etoposide, Adriamycin and Cyclophosphamide on days 1, 15, 29, 43, Vincristine and Bleomycin on days 8, 22, 36, 50 and Prednisolone on weeks 1-9). The regimen was administered on an outpatient basis. The median age of the patients was 67 years (range 60-78); 15 were previously untreated, 8 were on second line therapy; 6 patients (44%) had stage IV disease, 19 (83%) B symptoms, 15 (65%) had bulky disease, and (26%) bone marrow involvement. The complete remission (CR) rate was 57%, and the partial remission (PR) rate 43%, with an overall response rate of (100%). No difference in response rate was observed between previously untreated patients and patients treated with P-VABEC as second-line therapy while hematological and clinical toxicity were very mild.

Aggressive treatments in elderly patients with NHL are often responsible for acute complications and increased mortality. The present study confirms that P-VABEC is able to induce a high CR rate (71%), with an overall response rate of 92%. The 4-year actuarial OS was 45%, and the FFS was 38%. Despite these good results 57% of CRs relapsed in a relatively short time (median 9.5 months; range 2-47). Because of this we decided to evaluate the role of a consolidation schedule (CIP), including idarubicin and cisplatin. The toxicity of P-VABEC/CIP regimen was comparable to that of P-VABEC alone. After a median follow-up of 20 months (range 8-49), 93% of CR patients treated with P-VABEC-CIP were still in complete remission. The 4-year actuarial overall survival was 92%, and the failure-free survival in CR patients was 72%. The difference in OS and FFS between the two groups was statistically significant. These results suggest that a short course of additional therapy is feasible in elderly patients treated with P-VABEC and may increase the OS and FFS, without adding toxicity.

The motility of circulating neutrophils from seven patients affected by intermediate and high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphoma was investigated before and after rhG-CSF administration (5 micrograms/kg/d for 5 d subcutaneously) in the course of chemotherapy. Random motility and bacterial lipopolysaccharide-induced chemotaxis were studied by the micropore filter technique in a Boyden chamber. These functions were evaluated by a very sensitive technique, based on a computer-assisted image processing system, capable of giving several parameters about the kinetics of cell migration. Along with a significant increase in neutrophil number, a significant decrease both in random and stimulated motility was found. The kinetics of cell migration showed that the cells maintained the typical gaussian pattern of random motility. On the contrary, neutrophils were found to have lost the typical stimulated migration peak. These findings are consistent with a rhG-CSF-induced impairment of the directional movement, rather than of the ability of moving at random. These effects were found in patients who, in the same experimental conditions, had displayed an enhanced phagocytosis and phagocytosis-associated chemiluminescence along with an enhanced CD32 expression, not due to an aspecific cell manipulation. Two hypotheses may be taken into account: (i) an increased adhesiveness due to a direct or an indirect activity of the cytokine; (ii) an abnormality in the cytoskeleton maturation and/or rearrangement during the accelerated bone marrow transit of myeloid cells. These findings emphasize that rh-GCSF administration can modulate several functions which play an important role in host defence, and suggest the utility of carrying out further studies to investigate the optimum dosage both to correct neutrophil number and preserve neutrophil functional activities.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV), which is both a hepatotropic and a lymphotropic virus, has been proposed as a possible causative agent of mixed cryoglobulinaemia. This 'benign' lymphoproliferative disorder can switch over to a malignant B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Therefore HCV infection has been investigated in a series of 50 unselected Italian patients with B-cell NHL. Antibodies against HCV were found in 30% of NHL and HCV viraemia in 32% of cases. HCV-related markers were detected in 34% (17/50) of our NHL patients; this prevalence is particularly significant when compared with HCV seropositivity in Hodgkin's lymphoma (3%) and healthy controls (1.3%).

An intensive third generation regimen (P-VABEC) including adriamycin, etoposide, cyclophosphamide, vincristine, bleomycin and prednisolone was administered to 43 unselected elderly patients with intermediate or high-grade non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL). The median age was 67, 40 per cent were Ann Arbor stage IV, 73 per cent had 'B' symptoms, 55 per cent had bulky disease, 48 per cent had serum lactate dehydrogenase greater than 450 U/l, 85 per cent had serum thymidine-kinase greater than 4 U/l. Thirty patients were previously untreated. The complete remission (CR) rate was 74 per cent, and the partial remission (PR) rate 23 per cent, with an overall response rate of 97 per cent. The regimen was carried out on an outpatient basis in all patients. No death occurred during therapy. The Kaplan-Meier actuarial survival of all patients at 3-years is 47 per cent, and 50 per cent (16/32) of all patients who attained CR remain alive and in remission at a median of 21+ months (range 6+ to 42+). These results confirm that high remission and failure-free survival rates can be achieved also in elderly unselected patients with aggressive NHL treated with curative intent.