High-Dose Chemotherapy Followed by Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (AHSCT) for Lymphocyte Predominant Hodgkin’s Disease.

Lymphocyte Predominant Hodgkin’s Disease (LPHD) is a B-cell lymphoma that may require different treatment and may have a different natural history than classical Hodgkin’s disease. Although AHSCT is accepted therapy for patients with relapsed and refractory classical Hodgkin’s disease, there is little information regarding transplantation for LPHD. We performed a retrospective analysis of 19 patients who were treated with AHSCT for relapsed or refractory LPHD at the University of Nebraska Medical Center between April, 1987 and October, 2002. Biopsies of all LPHD patients were reviewed to confirm the diagnosis according to the WHO classification. Patients with a prior or concurrent diagnosis of classical Hodgkin’s disease or non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma were excluded. There were 18 men and 1 woman. Median age was 33 years (range 19–52). Thirteen patients (68%) received 1–2 chemotherapy regimens prior to AHSCT, and 6 patients (32%) received 3 or more regimens. Nine patients (47%) received radiation therapy prior to AHSCT. Five patients (26%) had extranodal disease at the time of AHSCT. Five patients (26%) were transplanted with autologous bone marrow, and 14 patients (74%) received peripheral blood stem cells. Six patients (32%) were transplanted with BEAM (carmustine, etoposide, cytarabine, melphalan), and 13 patients (68%) were treated with CBV (cyclophosphamide, carmustine, etoposide). The results of AHSCT for the 19 patients with LPHD were compared with 229 patients in our database who received AHSCT for relapsed and refractory nodular sclerosis Hodgkin’s disease during the same time period. The characteristics of the groups were similar with respect to age, disease status at the time of AHSCT, stage at AHSCT, amount of treatment prior to AHSCT, and interval between diagnosis and AHSCT. Patients with LPHD were more likely to be males (p<0.001), less likely to have received radiation prior to AHSCT (p=0.06), and more likely to have been transplanted with peripheral blood stem cells (p=0.05). The actuarial 5-year progression-free survival following AHSCT for patients with LPHD and nodular sclerosis Hodgkin’s disease was 40% (95% CI 18% to 61%) and 39% (95% CI 33% to 45%), respectively (p=0.30). The actuarial 5-year overall survival following AHSCT for patients with LPHD and classical Hodgkin’s disease was 56% (95% CI 30% to 75%) and 53% (95% CI 46% to 59%), respectively (p=0.36). A multivariate analysis comparing patients with LPHD and those with nodular sclerosis Hodgkin’s disease was performed. The relative risk of treatment failure following AHSCT for patients with nodular sclerosis histology was 1.14 (95% CI 0.62 to 2.12; p=0.67), and the relative risk of death was 1.22 (95% CI 0.62 to 2.41; p=0.56). These results demonstrate that long-term progression-free survival and overall survival can be achieved following high-dose therapy and AHSCT for patients with LPHD. Furthermore, no significant differences in progression-free survival and overall survival were identified when results of AHSCT for LPHD and nodular sclerosis Hodgkin’s disease were compared. Although none of the LPHD patients were treated with newer agents such as gemcitabine or rituximab prior to AHSCT, this analysis suggests that high-dose therapy followed by AHSCT may be used for patients with relapsed and refractory LPHD as well as classical Hodgkin’s disease.