Chemotherapy and response
Of the 181 patients, thirty patients did not complete chemotherapy: 21
abandoned therapy, 7 died during therapy (6 infection and 1 PD), and 2
PD (taken off protocol). 151 patients proceeded to response evaluation;
of them 66 (44%) had CR, 71 (47%) had PR, 4 (3%) had PD (taken off
therapy), and 10 (7%) did not report the response evaluation (Table 2).
Radiation therapy
Of the 151 patients who continued on therapy, the 4 had PD, 1 progressed
while waiting for radiation, 1 relapse (refused radiation and relapsed
11 months after the end of chemotherapy), and 8 abandon therapy after
response evaluation were taken off protocol therapy (Figure 1). Of the
137/151 (91%) who proceeded to receive radiation therapy after
chemotherapy, 110 (80%) received radiation therapy on time, 25 (18%)
started radiation more than 2 months after completion of chemotherapy, 2
(2%) abandoned therapy during radiation. Of the 135 who completed
radiation, 16 (12%) did not get radiation to all involved sites.
Forty-eight (36%) were given the incorrect dose: 39 (29%) was too high
(2700-5040cGy), and 9 (7%) too low (1500-1800CGy). Of the 87 who
received radiation within the correct dose range: 11 received the
incorrect dose assigned according to CR (n=8) or PR (n=3).