Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in children. Results of therapy.

Twenty-one children with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) entered intensive chemotherapy study according to the protocol 6481. Sixteen patients with extraabdominal involvement achieved long-lasting remission, 15 of them have been disease-free for 17 till 77 months. Five children suffered from intraabdominal NHL, 4 of them expired because of progression of the disease within 4 months after diagnosis, 1 patient has been disease-free for 43 months. Actuarial disease-free survival is 0.76 for the whole group, 0.8 for those with extraabdominal involvement and 0.20 for children with intraabdominal forms of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Protocol 6481 is highly effective for extraabdominal forms of childhood non-Hodgkin's lymphomas but insufficient for abdominal forms.