Pulmonary toxicity in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma treated with bleomycin-containing combination chemotherapy.

Subclinical and clinical bleomycin-induced pulmonary toxicity (BIP) were investigated retrospectively in 109 patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma treated by combination chemotherapy containing bleomycin. A decrease in carbon monoxide diffusing capacity (DLCO) was found in 12.8% of patients. The cumulative risk of abnormal DLCO increased with the increasing total cumulative dose of bleomycin. No significant difference in the rate of BIP was observed between patients receiving bleomycin/Adriamycin/cyclophosphamide/vincristine/prednisone (BACOP; bleomycin given at 10 mg/m2 for 4 weeks) and bleomycin/Adriamycin/cyclophosphamide/vincristine/dexamethasone/methotre xate/ folinic acid (m-BACOD; bleomycin given at 4 mg/m2 for 3 weeks, methotrexate given at 200 mg/m2. Monitoring for subclinical BIP should be considered in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma even if only a low dose of bleomycin was given in the presence of other chemotherapeutic agents.