CHOP regimen versus intermittent chlorambucil-prednisone in stage B chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Short term results from a randomized clinical trial. French Cooperative Group on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.

In 1985, the French Cooperative Group on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia started a protocol based on the (A, B, C) staging system. This paper reports the first interim results in stage B patients who were randomized to receive either the CHOP regimen or intermittent chlorambucil plus prednisone. Out of the 199 stage B patients, randomized on the reference date of May 1 1988, 94 received chlorambucil plus prednisone (7 deaths) and 105 the CHOP regimen (6 deaths). Among the evaluable patients at the 6-month examination, 53% reached clinical remission or stage A in the chlorambucil-prednisone group while 77% died in the CHOP group (p = 0.002). This short-term result supports the effectiveness of the CHOP regimen previously demonstrated by group in stage C patients. More follow-up is needed to assess the benefit from the CHOP regimen in terms of survival in stage B patients.