A single-institution experience with the hyper-CVAD regimen in aggressive NHL.

e18510 Background: Hyper-CVAD (± rituximab) is a chemotherapy regimen designed as a treatment for aggressive hematological malignancies. It consists of 8 cycles. Cycle 1, 3, 5, 7 (3-4 weeks/cycle) includes cyclophosphamide 300mg/m2 IV over 2 hours (hrs) every 12 hrs for 6 doses on day 1-3 + Mesna 600mg/m2 per day continuous IV on days 1-3 to start 1 hr before cyclophosphamide till 12 hrs after completion of cyclophosphamide + vincristine 2mg IV on days 4 and 11 + doxorubicin 50mg/m2 IV over 24 hrs on Day 4 + dexamethasone 40mg daily orally on days 1-4 and days 11-14. Cycle 2, 4, 6, 8 (3-4 weeks/cycle) consist of high dose methotrexate (MTX) (200mg/m2) IV over 2 hrs followed by 800mg/m2 continuous IV infusion over 22 hrs on day 1 + cytarabine 3gm/m2 (1gm/m2 for patient age over 60 years old) IV over 2 hrs every 12 hrs for doses on days 2 and 3 + leucovorin 50mg IV every 6 hrs starting 12 hrs after completion of MTX till MTX level < 0.05µM. Hyper-CVAD is a short intensified regimen given over eight months compared to known therapy for ALL and Burkitt lymphoma. Methods: Retrospective review of all cases of acute lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma and Burkitt’s lymphoma between 2000 and 2012 was done. It included all patients and evaluated response to therapy including Hyper-CVAD. Results: A total of 79 patients with aggressive acute lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma and Burkitt’s NHL were analyzed. Mean age 39 years (range 15-75 years). All patients were admitted at least twice with febrile neutropenia. Prolonged cytopenias were observed in more than 50% of patients. Conclusions: Hyper-CVAD is an intense regimen that produces high rates of clinical remission in less than 8 months of therapy compared to established regimen for aggressive hematological malignancies. [Table: see text]