BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANTATION VERSUS CHEMOTHERAPY IN NON-HODGKINS-LYMPHOMA

Abstract

To the Editor: In their study of the efficacy of high-dose chemotherapy and autologous bone marrow transplantation in patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma who respond slowly to chemotherapy, Verdonck et al. (April 20 issue)1 used response criteria that may have influenced the outcome. A variety of criteria have been proposed to assess response in patients with lymphoma, but the most widely accepted are those ratified at the Cotswolds meeting,2 which define a partial remission as “a decrease by at least 50 percent in the sum of the products of the largest perpendicular diameters of all measurable lesions.” In contrast, Verdonck et. © 1995, Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved.