Effect of pirarubicin for elderly patients with malignant lymphoma.

To determine the effect of a chemotherapy regimen containing pirarubicin, a multicenter clinical trial was performed in naive patients > or = 65 years with malignant lymphoma, between January 1990 and December 1992. The total number of patients was 37 (median age 74.2 years). One of three different types of chemotherapy regimens, which was administered every 3 to 5 weeks, was chosen for each patient at random. Regimen A (THP-COP) included pirarubicin (30 mg/m2; day 1), cyclophosphamide (500 mg/m2; day 1), vincristine (1 mg/m2; day 1) and prednisolone (30 mg/m2; days 1-5), regimen B, modified "CHOP", included doxorubicin (30 mg/m2; day 1), cyclophosphamide (500 mg/m2; day 1) vincristine (1 mg/m2; day 1) and prednisolone (30 mg/m2; days 1-5); regimen C (THP-COPE) included etoposide (80 mg/m2; day 1) in addition to regimen A. The complete response (CR) rate was 60.0%, 45.5% and 62.5% with regimen A, B and C. The partial response (PR) rate with regimen A was 20.0%, 18.2% with B and 25.0% with C. The 50% survival period with regimen A was more than 1,000 days, with C 643 days but it was only 365 days with B. The adverse effects related to these treatments occurred more frequently in regimen B than A and C showing a statistically significant difference. We concluded that chemotherapy regimens containing pirarubicin are useful and safe for the elderly patients with malignant lymphoma.