Two‐weekly dose‐adjusted (<scp>DA</scp>)‐<scp>EPOCH</scp>‐like chemotherapy with high‐dose dexamethasone plus rituximab (<scp>DA</scp>‐<scp>EDOCH</scp>14‐<scp>R</scp>) in poor‐prognostic untreated diffuse large <scp>B</scp>‐cell lymphoma

Abstract

The activity and safety of two-weekly dose-adjusted (DA)-EPOCH (etoposide, prednisone, vincristine, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin)-like chemotherapy with high-dose dexamethasone plus rituximab (DA-EDOCH14-R) was explored in 20 patients with previously untreated poor prognosis diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The main outcomes were compared with those of 27 poor-prognosis patients enrolled into a previous trial of 3-weekly DA-EPOCH-R. Toxicity was manageable and there were no therapy-related deaths. Three-year progression-free survival (PFS) was superior in the DA-EDOCH14-R group (95% vs. 74%, P = 0·08). Importantly, this improvement in PFS with the two-weekly DA-EDOCH14-R was particularly notable in patients with an age-adjusted International Prognostic Index of 3 (100% vs. 30%, P < 0·001).