BuCyE can safely replace BEAM as a conditioning regimen for autologous stem cell transplantation in the treatment of refractory and relapsed lymphomas.

INTRODUCTION: Hodgkin's (HL) and non-Hodgkin's (NHL) lymphomas have usually high cure rates. The standard of care for chemosensitive relapsed/refractory lymphoma patients is salvage chemotherapy followed by AHSCT. Due to carmustine and melphalan shortages, alternative pre-AHSCT conditioning regimens with similar tolerance and response were needed.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the efficacy and toxicity profile between relapsed/refractory HL and NHL lymphomas given BEAM or BuCyE.

METHODS: A retrospective analyses of 122 patients in a Brazilian center was made. OS and PFS were calculated by Kaplan-Meier and compared by log rank. Toxicity and engraftment data were also compared.

RESULTS: Most clinical characteristics were similar between groups, although a higher frequency of grade ≥ 2 mucositis (p = .01) was seen in the BuCyE group. No significant difference in OS or PFS were observed between the groups.

CONCLUSION: BEAM and BuCyE are well tolerated with similar toxicity profiles and survival outcomes. Therefore, BuCyE conditioning regimen can be considered an alternative to BEAM.