High-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation as first-line therapy in aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a meta-analysis

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: High-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation (HDT/ASCT) has proven to be superior to conventional chemotherapy in patients with chemosensitive relapse of aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL). Therefore, HDT/ASCT was evaluated as part of first-line therapy. Several trials generated conflicting results. This meta-analysis summarizes the available evidence from all suitable studies. DESIGN AND METHODS: Prospective, randomized trials with HDT/ASCT as first-line therapy of aggressive lymphoma were included in this meta-analysis. The primary outcome was overall mortality. Statistical analysis applied the odds ratio (OR) and a fixed effects model. RESULTS: Eleven trials with 2228 patients were eligible for meta-analysis. Overall mortality was comparable in the HDT/ASCT and in control arms (OR=0.97, 95% CI: 0.69;1.36, p=0.9), with statistically significant heterogeneity between the trials. To resolve this, we tried to identify variables that could explain this heterogeneity. Among a range of methodological, patient- or treatment-related factors, subgroups formed by the proportion of bulky disease in treated patients, the type of therapy prior to HDT/ASCT, the drop-out rate from the HDT/ASCT arm, and the presence of high or high-intermediate risk IPI showed significant benefit for any of the treatment modalities. However, such post-hoc subgroup analysis may be considerably influenced by random or systemic biases. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the analysis of published evidence reveals very heterogeneous results and no overall survival benefit. Therefore, HDT/ASCT cannot be recommended as standard first line treatment for patients with aggressive NHL. However, the exploratory analyses presented here may help to design new trials for this treatment modality.