A multicenter study of gemcitabine-containing regimen in relapsed or refractory Hodgkin's lymphoma patients.

The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of a gemcitabine-containing regimen in pretreated Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) patients. Relapsed or refractory HL patients treated with gemcitabine, used alone or in combination with other cytotoxic agents, were retrospectively reviewed. Fifty-five patients were included in the study. Initial characteristics before gemcitabine administration were: Ann Arbor stage III - IV: 84%; International Prognostic Score less than 3 in 18/39 cases (46%); 31 primary refractory patients at the end of first-line therapy (56%); median number of previous chemotherapy regimens of 3. Twenty-nine patients received gemcitabine alone with a median maximal dose of goo mg/m(2) per injection (range: 300 - 1500 mg/m(2)). Gemcitabine was administered at a maximal dose of 1000 mg/m(2) per injection (range: 650 - 1250) in combination with vinorelbine in 10 patients, oxaliplatin in 13 patients, and other drugs in three patients, with a median of six injections (range: 1 - 18). Reported toxicity was mainly hematologic. Overall response rate was 20% with 11% of complete remission. On univariate analysis, two adverse factors at progression were significant for response to gemcitabine-based regimen: stage III - IV disease and hemoglobin level was less than 10.5g/dl. This study demonstrated the limited efficacy of gemcitabine-containing regimen in heavily pretreated HL patients.