Modified Conditioning Regimen with Idarubicin Prior to Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

High-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (auto-HSCT) has become a standard consolidation treatment for patients with invasive lymphoma. The combination of cyclophosphamide, carmustine, and etoposide (CBV) is a commonly used conditioning regimen prior to auto-HSCT for patients with invasive lymphoma. Many modifications of the CBV regimen, including the addition of idarubicin, have been employed, with varying results. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes of 36 patients with invasive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma treated with a conditioning regimen prior to auto-HSCT between January 2015 and June 2018. For our analysis, the patients were divided into two groups: one group received the classic CBV conditioning regimen and the other group received idarubicin at a dose of 8 mg/m² for 3 days in addition to the CBV regimen. Overall survival (OS), median progression-free survival (PFS), adverse reactions, and hematopoietic reconstitution time were compared between the two groups. OS and PFS were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method, and the log-rank test was used for comparison between groups. Cox regression was used for multivariable analysis of other clinical factors. The median follow-up time was 29 months. Among the 36 patients in the cohort, 19 were male and 17 were female, with a male-to-female ratio of 1.12 to 1. The median age of onset was 39.5 years; 18 patients were older than 40 years and 18 were younger than 40 years. Twenty-six patients (72%) had an international prognostic index score of 0-2 and 10 patients (28%) had a score of 3-5. According to Ann Arbor staging criteria, 9 patients (25%) had stage I-II disease and 27 patients (75%) had stage III-IV disease. A total of 21 patients achieved complete remission and 15 patients achieved partial remission before transplantation. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of neutrophil counts (P = 0.795) or platelet reconstitution time (P = 0.551). Also, there was no difference in adverse reactions between the two groups, suggesting that the addition of idarubicin to the conditioning regimen did not aggravate adverse reactions. OS and PFS were significantly longer in the idarubicin group than among patients who did not receive idarubicin. In the multivariable analysis, the use of idarubicin and complete remission state before auto-HSCT were associated with improved prognosis. These results indicate that the use of idarubicin with the CBV conditioning regimen prior to auto-HSCT is a safe and effective choice for patients with invasive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Keywords: B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma; conditioning regimen; autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; idarubicin