Dose intensification with autologous bone-marrow transplantation in relapsed and resistant Hodgkin's disease: results of a BNLI randomised trial
N = 40
- Population
- Patients with active Hodgkin's disease for whom conventional therapy had failed (relapsed and resistant disease).
- Design
- Randomised comparison by the British National Lymphoma Investigation of high-dose BEAM (carmustine, etoposide, cytarabine, melphalan) plus autologous bone-marrow transplantation (ABMT) with the same drugs at lower doses not requiring marrow rescue (mini-BEAM). All patients were followed up for at least 12 months (median 34 months). The trial closed early because recruitment became difficult as patients refused randomisation and requested ABMT: 40 patients were entered rather than the 66 intended.
- Arms
- BEAM plus ABMT (experimental, n = 20): High-dose BEAM with autologous bone-marrow transplantation
- Mini-BEAM (control, n = 20): The same drugs as BEAM at lower doses, not requiring bone-marrow rescue
- People
- Linch DC, British National Lymphoma Investigation