Long-term results of total abdominopelvic irradiation in non-Hodgkin's lymphomas after failure of chemotherapy

To evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of moderate-dose total abdominopelvic irradiation (TAI) in a retrospective series of pretreated non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL).From 1977 to 1994, 45 patients received TAI after failure of chemotherapy (CT). According to the Working Formulation, 10 patients were diagnosed with class A (group I), 19 with class B, C, or D (follicular) (group II), and 16 with class E or more severe (group III) NHL. Irradiation consisted of two daily fractions of 0.80 Gy each for a total dose of 20 Gy.Mean follow-up after TAI was 102 months (range 8-156). For the entire group, the complete response (CR) rate was 66%, the partial response (PR) rate 29%, 10-year overall survival (OS) 35%, 10-year disease-free survival (DFS) 29%, and median survival 32 months. When results between subgroups were compared, CR was 70% in group I, 84% in group II, and 44% in group III; and survival was statistically higher in group II than in groups I and III: 10-year OS 52% vs. 10% (p0.01) and 31% (p0.05), respectively, 10-year DFS 37% vs. 10% (p0.03) and 19% (p0.05), respectively. Grade III or IV complications were gastrointestinal in 27% of patients and hematologic in 25%.Large-field irradiation in moderate doses could provide an alternative to bone marrow transplantation in refractory NHL, especially in cases showing a follicular growth pattern.