Efficacy of Vindesine + Dexamethasone (VDS+Dexa.) in Elderly Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Malignant Lymphoma

Background; The number of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients in the elderly has been increasing due to the long-lived society. It is not rare to treat elderly NHL patients aged over 85 years old. Individualizing the doses of cancer chemotherapy agents and progress in supportive therapy has improved the prognosis for elderly patients with NHL. Prolonged hospitalization elderly patients have adverse effects, which include dementia, difficulty in walking, and depression. Optimal treatment for these patients is unknown. Patients and Methods; In our hospital between April 2012 and December 2014, we treated 19 elderly patients (85 and over 85 years) with NHL as outpatients with VDS 3mg (day 1) and Dexa. (day 1-4) which repeated every 3 weeks for as long as possible. Results; Complete remission was achieved in 5 patients and partial remission in 6; the median duration of survival was 14 months. Adverse effects included leukopenia in 1 patient (<1,000 cells/μl), thrombocytopenia in 1patient (<5×10⁴ cells/μl). Conclusion; VDS+Dexa. is useful in elderly patients because of its low hematological and non-hematological toxicity. These results indicate that VDS+Dexa. is effective and safe for the treatment of NHL in elderly patients. This outpatient chemotherapy caused no serious adverse reactions.