The addition of radiotherapy to chemotherapy does not improve outcome of early stage Hodgkin's lymphoma patients: a retrospective long-term follow-up analysis of a regional Italian experience.

We retrospectively reviewed 139 stage I-II HL patients who were diagnosed and followed up in an Italian northern region (Liguria) from 1995 to 2007, and who received either chemotherapy (CT) alone (mainly doxorubicin, bleomycin, vinblastine, and dacarbazine; ABVD) or a combined modality treatment (chemotherapy + radiotherapy, CT + RT). The two therapeutic groups were comparable for clinical and histologic features. Complete remission rate after CT + RT was higher than what was achieved with CT alone (96% vs. 84%, respectively, p = 0.03). Relapse rate (12%) was the same in both groups and disease-free survival curves were comparable (82% and 83%, p = 0.47). The overall survival of the two therapeutic groups is comparable. No second tumors have been reported among patients receiving chemotherapy alone, whereas a second neoplasia has been diagnosed in four patients (in two cases possibly radiotherapy related) in the CT + RT group (5%, p = 0.09) In conclusion, our retrospective study shows that CT + limited RT is an effective and well-tolerated option for early stage Hodgkin's lymphoma, even if the use of RT is associated with a certain risk of developing a second tumor. However, four to six courses of ABVD can lead to similar, optimal, long-term disease control without exposing patients to the risk of a second neoplasia.

Thyroid lymphoma: a rare tumor requiring combined management.

Thyroid lymphoma is a rare disease which occurs mainly in elderly females. Most patients with thyroid lymphoma have Chronic Lymphocytic Thyroiditis (CLT), suggesting a role of chronic antigen stimulation in the development of the disease. We present two cases of thyroid Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) diagnosed after surgery (subtotal thyroidectomy) by means of combined histology and immunohistochemistry (positive staining for CD-20) in two elderly female patients presenting at our institution for compressive symptoms (dysphonia in patient 1, dysphagia in patient 2) due to a gross neck mass. Fine-needle aspiration was compatible with lymphocytic thyroiditis in the first patient and was indeterminate in the second patient. The first patient had a long-lasting history of hypothyroidism due to CLT and was on L-thyroxine replacement therapy, whereas the second patient had normal thyroid function and negative thyroid autoantibodies. After surgery both patients underwent chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone (CHOP) plus rituximab). At one-year follow-up both patients were disease-free. Thyroid lymphoma is an uncommon tumor which requires prompt diagnosis and combined management for a high rate of cure to be achieved.

Erythropoietin plus granulocyte colony-stimulating factor is better than erythropoietin alone to treat anemia in low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes: results from a randomized single-centre study.

Haemopoietic growth factors (HGF), i.e. erythropoietin [recombinant human erythropoietin (rHEPO)] or granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), alone or in combination, have largely been used to treat anemia in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), but whether combined rHEPO and G-CSF is really superior to rHEPO alone is still under debate. In particular, randomized studies comparing front-line rHEPO vs rHEPO+G-CSF are still lacking. The aim of this study was to compare the effects of "standard" doses of rHEPO with the combination of rHEPO and G-CSF in the treatment of anemic patients with low-risk MDS in a prospective randomized trial. Anemic patients with low-risk MDS were randomly assigned to receive either rHEPO (10,000 IU s.c. three times a week) or the same dosage of rHEPO+G-CSF (300 mug s.c. twice a week) for a minimum of 8 weeks. Patients who were unresponsive to rHEPO were offered the combination therapy for another 8 weeks, whereas non-responders to rHEPO+G-CSF were considered "off study". Responders continued the treatment indefinitely. Both haematological response and changes in quality-of-life (QoL) scores (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Anemia) were recorded and evaluated. Thirty consecutive patients [10 refractory anemia (RA), 5 RA with ringed sideroblasts, 7 refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia, 5 RA with less than 10% blasts and 3 5q-syndrome] were enrolled in the study. All of them (15 in the rHEPO arm and 15 in the rHEPO+G-CSF arm) were valuable after the first 8 weeks of treatment. Erythroid response was observed in 6/15 (40%) patients in the rHEPO arm and in 11/15 (73.3%) patients in the rHEPO+G-CSF arm. In 4/9 (44.4%) patients who were unresponsive to rHEPO, the addition of G-CSF induced erythroid response at 16 weeks. No relevant adverse effects were recorded for either treatment in any of the study patients. Erythroid response to HGF was associated with a relevant improvement in QoL. Twenty responders continued the treatment. Afterwards, 8/20 (40%) discontinued therapy because of the following: losing response (2), progression to high-risk MDS (3) and death due to other causes (3). The remaining 12 are still responding and continuing treatment, with a median follow-up of 28 months. Progression to acute leukemia was cumulatively observed in 4/30 (13.3%) patients (2 in each arm). Although our data were obtained from a relatively small cohort of patients, they indicate that the rHEPO+G-CSF treatment is more effective than rHEPO alone for correcting anemia in low-risk MDS patients and for making a relevant improvement in their QoL.