Comparison of Mitoxantrone - Melphalan and BEAM Conditioning Regimens in Lymphoma Patients

Abstract Introduction Lymphoma is seen as a highly treatable and curable malignancy with aggressive treatment methods. Efficacy is often limited by toxicity and many patients need alternative treatment strategies as they cannot tolerate existing high cytotoxic approaches. Our aim is to compare BEAM and Mx-Mel regimens utilized in our patients with a diagnosis of lymphoma who underwent autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT); to show that the Mx-Mel regimen has similar but less toxic results compared to the BEAM regimen we have been using frequently as standard conditioning regimen. Material and methods: A total of 101 patients who had autologous stem cell transplantation with the diagnosis of lymphoma were included in our study. The BEAM regimen included BCNU, etoposide, ARA-C and melphalan. Patients in the Mx-Mel arm received mitoxantrone and melphalan. Results: Sixty (60) of 101 patients included in the study received BEAM (59.4%) and 41 of them received Mx-Mel (40.6%) conditioning regimen. The median time to neutrophil engraftment was 10 days (range: 9-20) in the BEAM arm and 12 (9-12) days in the Mx-Mel arm; it was statistically significant shorter in the BEAM arm (p = 0.001). Discussion and conclusion: In this study, we show that the Mx-Mel regimen has similar efficacy and toxicity compared to the BEAM regimen. Although time to neutrophil engraftment was shorter in the BEAM arm, it did not result as significant transplant-related complications between the two regimens. Mx-Mel is seen as a good alternative with low toxicity and high efficacy.