Marrow Therapy May Aid Patients With Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma

Two studies indicate that bone marrow treatment combined with high doses of chemotherapy and radiation can be effective for some patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, the most common form of cancer in young adults.

The still-experimental regimen appears most effective for patients who have relapsed after undergoing standard treatment but are fairly healthy otherwise, appear responsive to treatment and whose disease is relatively confined, researchers said Wednesday.

They said the results also indicate that the treatment could be useful as the first form of therapy for certain patients, especially those who appear unlikely to respond to standard treatment of chemotherapy or radiation.

‘Can Be Very Effective’

“I think it’s very clear that for relapse patients it can be very effective,” said Dr. Lee M. Nadler, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. “It’s now legitimate to ask whether it may be useful as a primary treatment.”

Nadler headed one of two studies published in the New England Journal of Medicine examining the value of bone marrow transplants for various forms of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.