THURSDAY, Sept. 23, 2004 (HealthDayNews) -- About half the patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in the United States don't receive the recommended dose and schedule of chemotherapy, which reduces their chances for remission or cure, says a University of Rochester Medical Center study.
Researchers reviewed data for 4,552 patients in 567 cancer practices across the United States and found that between 48 percent to 53 percent of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) were given less than 85 percent of the recommended chemotherapy dose intensity. This was due to treatment delays of at least one week or dose reduction, the researchers said.
Patients over age 60 had twice the risk of being under-treated, the study found.
"The data point to an alarming pattern in the treatment of patients with aggressive and potentially curable NHL: too many patients do not receive the chemotherapy doses that they need in order to have the best chance of complete remission or cure," lead researcher Dr. Gary Lyman, director of health services and outcomes research at the Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center, said in a prepared statement.
The study cited both planned and unplanned reductions in treatment as the reasons for under-treatment of NHL patients. Unplanned reductions were due to treatment complications such as side effects caused by chemotherapy.
The study appears in the Sept. 20 online issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
More information
The American Cancer Society has more about non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
