Phase II study of the efficacy and toxicity of rituximab, navelbine, ifosfamide, mitoxantrone, and prednisone in relapsed aggressive non hodgkin's B-cell lymphoma.
The study intervention is an administration of 3 courses of the abovementioned drugs, witch doses are detailed below. Remission is assessed and the investigator is free to proceed with any kind of consolidation , he decides best for the patient( high dose or standard chemotherapy).
The addition of Rituximab the the NIMP protocol is warranted on the basis of previous publications wtich have shown a significant advantage in addition to chemotherapy in complete remission rate and in overall survival.
Navelbine has shown an interesting activity in lymphoma relapse. Mitoxantrone has a good toxicity profile for patients who have prevously received anthracyclines, and there is not so much cross resistance between the two drugs.
Ifosfamide is commonly used in the treatment of relapsed and refractory lymphoma, because of its low hematologic toxicity profile and good antitumor activity.
